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Extending an employee's probation period while she was on sick leave would have been distressing for her, but the employer had "little alternative", the Fair Work Commission has found.

At that point, the employee had been absent for two weeks and the employer needed to inform her of its decision before her probation ended, Commissioner Emma Thornton accepted.

The employee joined Vital Health Qld in January this year, as a speech therapist servicing remote communities in Queensland.

Two months into her employment, however, she raised concerns about the safety of travelling to a regional area on her own; specifically, she was worried about wet weather alerts, road conditions, and flooding. In response, the employer cancelled the trip...