A Sydney-based currency dealer was sacked after telling his employer he was working from home when he was actually on holiday in Singapore, according to The Straits Times. Charles Graham was employed by HIFX Australia, which trades as Xe. The company dismissed him on December 2nd, 2025, after tracing his work laptop to a hotel in Singapore. He was supposed to be working from home in Sydney on November 17.
According to The Straits Times, it was not the first time Graham had stretched the boundaries of remote working. He had previously worked from Bali while telling his manager he was at home waiting for a plumber to fix bathroom issues.
Graham had asked in September 2025 for permission to work from Singapore for a year, but the company refused, saying his role was based in Sydney and it did not have a licence to operate there. He later spent several weeks working from home, citing an eye injury, before going on annual leave.
When he was due to return, his manager contacted the IT department to verify his location. On October 7, Graham lost an unfair dismissal case. Australia's Fair Work Commission found that he had lied and that the company had a valid reason to dismiss him, but failed to follow proper procedure. He was awarded four weeks' back pay.
"Our mate should be online today, first day since his holiday, so I will need your FBI skills," his manager wrote in an email.
As reported by The Straits Times, the resulting investigation revealed that while Graham was supposed to be in Sydney "working from home", he was actually in Singapore.
In his defence, Graham said his partner had developed a bacterial infection during their holiday, forcing them to postpone their return to Australia.
He said he had intended to notify his manager but became overwhelmed by unread emails, incoming calls and a complaint from a high-value client.
Xe rejected the explanation, saying the documents he provided did not adequately prove that his partner was unable to travel, nor explain why he had concealed his location.
The company also cited previous instances in which Graham arrived late for work, claiming he was either unwell or delayed by household chores after a mandatory three-days-a-week office attendance policy was introduced.
That followed an earlier incident in which Graham claimed he needed to work from home because a plumber was coming to fix his toilet, when he was actually in Bali.
Commissioner Matheson of the Fair Work Commission found that the concealment demonstrated Graham understood he required approval to work overseas.
She described his failure to disclose his presence in Singapore as deliberate dishonesty.
Some readers of the Daily Mail, which also reported on the case, were equally unsympathetic.
"Give some people an inch, and they will take a mile," one reader wrote.
Others argued that employers should assess staff based on output rather than attendance, particularly when their work can be performed remotely.
"Who cares where he works from as long as the work is done," another reader commented.
However, the commission also found shortcomings in the way Xe handled Graham's dismissal.
Internal messages referring to a "strategy" and giving Graham "a bit of hope to turn up to the meeting" suggested the outcome may have been decided before his response was properly considered.
Nevertheless, Commissioner Matheson found reinstatement inappropriate and awarded no compensation, concluding that a fair process would have been unlikely to save Graham's job.
He was, however, entitled to four weeks' pay in place of notice, and that was ultimately awarded to him.
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