Westpac’s loss at the Fair Work Commission over a staff member’s request to work from home permanently is a warning to bosses that they must be prepared to justify why they require certain workers to come into the office, experts say.

The warning comes after a Westpac worker, who moved hours away to be close to her children’s school, successfully challenged the bank’s office attendance policy.

This week, the Fair Work Commission found in favour of an employee from Westpac’s mortgage operations team who challenged the bank after it shot down her request to work from home and insisted she report to the office at least two days a week.

Karlene Chandler, who has worked for Westpac for more than 20 years, had moved with her family to Wilton, about 80 kilometres south-west of Sydney’s CBD,

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