Centrelink Ordered to Pay $33,000 to Former Employee in Mental Health Dispute

In a recent ruling, the Fair Work Commission has ordered Centrelink to pay $33,348 plus superannuation to a former employee, Luke Wilson, who claimed he was effectively forced to resign due to the agency's mishandling of his mental health issues.

Wilson, who worked as a customer service officer and acting senior project officer at Centrelink's Toowoomba and Maryborough offices, had been on medical leave since February 2025 due to the toll his job had taken on his mental health. He alleged that Centrelink was negligent in dealing with significant mould issues at the Maryborough office, which contributed to his respiratory illness and led to him working in isolation from home.

The Commission found that Centrelink's conduct in the five weeks leading up to Wilson's resignation, during which he had no income, left him with no real choice but to resign. Deputy President Tony Slevin ruled that the agency had "unwittingly exacerbated" Wilson's condition by continuing to engage with him while he was medically unfit for work.

While the Commission acknowledged that Wilson's behavior at times was inappropriate, it was attributed to his mental illness. Slevin stated that Wilson's "obsession with what he perceived to be wrongdoing by a number of officers of Services Australia during 2024, his dogged pursuit of complaints about that conduct, and his insistence that his complaints be dealt with immediately and in a manner that he deemed apt was unreasonable" but that "his behaviour towards those he dealt with, in the lengthy conversations he had and the numerous emails he sent, was often rude, aggressive and unacceptable. He was however ill."

The Commission ultimately found that Wilson had been unfairly dismissed and ordered Centrelink to provide him with the substantial financial compensation.