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An employee who was absent for two-thirds of a year was not entitled to "unfettered" access to unpaid leave, the Fair Work Commission has ruled.

After the Australian Taxation Office refused to approve the service delivery officer's requests for several periods of unpaid leave and deemed his absences unauthorised, he filed a dispute under section 739 of the Fair Work Act, asking the Commission to determine whether the employer had the discretion to turn down his requests, and whether the refusals were reasonable.

The employer argued that the relevant clause in its enterprise agreement included the phrase "may approve unpaid personal leave", and outlined circumstances in which this might be appropriate...