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The Fair Work Commission has formally recommended an employer allow a long-serving employee to rescind his resignation and move it to a later date, enabling him to access 57 days of accrued sick leave.

Commissioner Bernie Riordan said that instead of going through a "lengthy legal process" related to the Northern Territory police officer's unfair dismissal application, he had decided to issue the recommendation to try and resolve the dispute, given the urgency of the officer's situation.

The employee had served with the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services for nearly 40 years when, 11 hours after his resignation took effect in July this year, he had a medical episode.

The employer had accepted his resignation back in October 2020, and the parties had agreed he would exhaust his accrued leave before his employment officially ended, which resulted in moving his retirement date on a number of occasions...