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An HR director's decision to sack an employee, who had taken more than 2.5 years' leave in a six-year period, was likely a breach of anti-discrimination laws, a tribunal has ruled.

In January this year, the South Australian Department of Education applied to the State Employment Tribunal to discharge an October 2022 "preservation order", which required it not to dismiss the employee until further order.

The day after its application, its people and culture executive director told the employee she had decided to terminate her employment, on the basis that her "significant" absences from 2016 onwards prevented her from satisfactorily completing work...