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The Fair Work Commission has cleared an employee to pursue a general protections dismissal claim against her employer, after it said she'd need to earn the respect of new staff through a "staged" return from parental leave before she could resume her previous HR duties.

"[The employer] delivered equivocal messages to [the employee] as to her ongoing role in the business, while at the same time making it clear that she would be required to take a lesser role in the 'short term'," Commissioner Damian Sloan said.

The office manager, who led HR and operations for Brindabella Hearing & Speech Centre, lodged a general protections dismissal dispute after her employment ended in May this year. The employer objected, on the basis that she hadn't been dismissed.

The Commission heard that in December last year, shortly before she was due to return from parental leave, the employee emailed a director about the days and hours she'd like to work.

The director responded that she was happy to accommodate her proposal, but they would need to "collaborate" on what her role would look like when she returned. The employer had implemented a "robust quarterly review system", she said, and as a result it didn't need the employee's "HR style role" any longer...