An employee who claims he was unfairly dismissed could be brought before the AFP after allegedly giving misleading evidence while pursuing legal action against his boss.
Imran Karim Budhwani has alleged that he was wrongly dismissed by IT multinational Infosys after he refused to return to the office following the Covid pandemic.
Mr Budhwani brought the matter to the Fair Work Commission in March, where his claim for unfair dismissal was dismissed.
The FWC published its decision this week, with Commissioner Phillip Ryan finding that the applicant “deliberately made false and misleading statements.”
“I will refer the matter to the commission’s chief executive for consideration as to whether the applicant’s conduct should be referred to the Australian Federal Police,” he said.
Mr. Budhwani was hired in 2018 to look after computers, printers and scanners at Infosys’ North Sydney headquarters.
When the Covid pandemic broke out, the company required everyone who worked in the office to get vaccinated.
FWC concluded that Mr Budhwani “deliberately lied to (Infosys) by claiming that he had been vaccinated against Covid so that he could continue to come to the office”.
Imran Karim Budhwani (pictured) claimed he was unfairly dismissed by IT multinational Infosys, but the Fair Work Commission ruled against him
During cross-examination, Mr Budhwani stated that he was “only caught lying about his vaccination status when he was asked to produce his vaccination certificate”.
Despite his dishonesty, the company allowed him to work from home temporarily, but this meant he was unable to perform some IT tasks.
His manager, Nimshy Osman, had to do the office work in Sydney that Mr Budhwani could not do remotely. In the second half of 2022, he asked HR if he could return to the office.
However, the Covid vaccination rule was still in effect, so Mr Budhwani was not allowed to work in the office.
But just over a year later, on November 2, 2023, Mr. Osman was told that the policy had been relaxed and unvaccinated employees could return to the office.
The next day, Mr. Osman called Mr. Budhwani and told him to come back to the office the following week.
Mr Budhwani cited several reasons related to his health condition and living conditions, which he said would prevent him from returning to office until February or March 2024.
He was told that he had to provide a medical certificate to be allowed to continue working remotely.
The medical certificate he provided was from a doctor in Maleny, Queensland. This was the first indication Infosys had that Mr Budhwani was not living in NSW.
On November 24, he was told by the company that he must return to the Sydney office where he had been on December 11, or provide evidence as to why he could not do so.
When the Covid pandemic hit, Infosys (pictured) required everyone working in the office to get vaccinated
Mr Budhwani sent an email saying he had a medical condition and could not come until February or March.
When the company asked him to apply for leave and whether he lived in Queensland, he did not respond.
On December 8, a follow-up email was sent with an automatic reply stating that Mr. Budhwani was on leave until December 11, but that he had not taken any leave.
He then kept changing his auto-reply to extend the leave he said he had, without even asking for it.
He still did not respond and the company fired him on December 21.
Mr Budhwani then “improperly released” three laptops that had been issued to him, the FWC heard.
“In this regard, the applicant’s conduct was reprehensible,” the committee said.
Before the FWC proceedings in March last year, Mr Budhwani said a “personal emergency” had played a role in his decision to take leave. However, on the first day of the hearing he refused to answer questions about the significance of this.
On the second day he said it was a deportation notice and that he had extended his leave so he could move and go back to work.
But then he changed his story a few times, saying that he once had leave to spend time with a friend who had come to visit.
Mr Budhwani also said he had met some “good friends” at an Airbnb who “had asked him to house sit for them for the period of March 2, 2024 through March 21, 2024.”
His claim for wrongful dismissal was denied.