A former ANZ technology manager who claimed he was pressured to resign after his flexible work request was rejected has lost his unfair dismissal case, with a tribunal finding his departure was voluntary.
According to a report by news.com.au, Harikumar Balasubramanian, who had worked at ANZ for about 20 years, claimed he was forced to quit in 2025 after the bank refused to extend an arrangement allowing him to work from home more frequently.
However, ANZ argued that Balasubramanian resigned by choice after securing another job. The Fair Work Commission heard he had received a firm offer from technology company Luxoft worth $950 a day.
Deputy President Andrew Bell dismissed the claim, finding Balasubramanian was not “a witness of credit”.
“I am unable to accept his evidence about a number of significant contested factual matters,” Mr Bell wrote, as quoted by news.com.au.
“His evidence was marked by inconsistencies, both internal and with the contemporaneous documents, and much of it was simply improbable when tested against facts that were not in dispute or could be established from the documentary evidence,” news.com.au has quoted.
Under ANZ's workplace policy, employees were generally required to work from the office 50 per cent of the week unless an exception had been approved.
Balasubramanian had been granted a temporary arrangement allowing him to attend the office 30 per cent of the time for six months, citing childcare responsibilities. He later sought to extend the arrangement, but said his request was rejected.
The tribunal found he had already been exploring other employment by May 2025 and later received a job offer from Luxoft in July.
“That leads to the inference that, by May 2025, Mr Balasubramanian was at least considering leaving his employment with ANZ,” Mr Bell wrote, as quoted by news.com.au.
According to his manager Vijayakumar Bidari, Balasubramanian said he wanted to leave after receiving a good offer from another bank.
“Mr Bidari’s version of events is that Mr Balasubramanian seemed happy and told him that he wanted to leave ANZ because he had received a good offer from another bank,” he wrote.
“Mr Bidari asked whether there was anything ANZ could do to retain him, but Mr Balasubramanian replied that he had already made up his mind and wanted to move on,” as quoted by news.com.au.
Balasubramanian gave a different account, saying the rejected flexible work arrangement had left him struggling to balance work and family commitments.
“I was under emotional stress and unsure how to balance my work and family responsibilities,” he said in a statement to the tribunal.
“The refusal of my flexible working arrangement request on June 23 really upset me.
“I felt stuck and emotionally drained because without that arrangement I couldn’t manage my family responsibilities.”
The tribunal found he had decided to resign before leaving ANZ and submitted his resignation on July 14, 2025. Two days later, he signed a contract with Luxoft, as reported by news.com.au.
The case also revealed that Balasubramanian subsequently sought to have his resignation withdrawn so he could potentially qualify for a redundancy package.
On August 1, he contacted HR about redundancies taking place at ANZ and offered to extend his employment.
“I’m reaching out to seek clarification regarding the recent redundancies taking place within the company,” he wrote.
“I submitted my resignation on 14 July, with my final working day set for 8 August. Since I am still currently employed and the redundancies are occurring during this period, I wanted to check whether I can be eligible for a redundancy, given the timing, as quoted by news.com.au.
“I am happy to withdraw my resignation and extend my last working day if that helps.”
According to news.com.au, ANZ responded that it was “unfortunate timing” and the company was “not in a position to amend your reason for exit”.
Mr Bell noted that Balasubramanian's emails seeking redundancy did not mention his claim that he had been forced to resign.
The tribunal ultimately found his resignation was “entirely voluntary”.
“Mr Balasubramanian’s real grievance is that the timing of his resignation meant that he may have missed the opportunity to depart from ANZ with the windfall of a redundancy package before taking up his new job with Luxoft,” as quoted by news.com.au.