My colleague has been sick for a year. Is it fair to fire them?

April 24, 2026 — 5:01am

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I work in an organisation where an important team member has been on various sick leave – on and off – for at least a year. They are unable to complete outstanding tasks, and the impact on other staff covering their duties is becoming increasingly stressful.

Can they be moved to a different, possibly less financial, role or let go for medical reasons?

I think there are two main elements to this question. The legal side: what can be done according to regulation. And the ethical and cultural side: what’s the right thing to do and how might respective decisions affect the broader organisation. While these are different dimensions, they’re not separate - they affect one another.

I spoke with Joellen Riley Munton, an expert in workplace law, and Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney, about the legal aspect. She told me that although having a chronic illness would count as having a disability, and you can’t take adverse action against someone because of their disability, an employer can dismiss someone if they can’t meet the inherent requirements of the job.

More specifically, if a person with a chronic illness is not taking........

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