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It was "unfortunate" that an employee was misled about the medical evidence she needed to provide to return to work after a long absence, but this didn't justify her objections to attending an independent medical examination, a commission has ruled.

Neither did the employer's failure to adhere to its own procedure cause the employee "insurmountable disadvantage", Queensland Industrial Relations Commissioner Roslyn McLennan found, in upholding the IME direction as fair and reasonable.

The Queensland Ambulance Service emergency medical dispatcher had been absent from work for seven months when, in April last year, she was directed to attend an IME.

She sought an internal review of the direction, but the workforce executive director upheld the decision in June, and she subsequently appealed...