Major white-collar employers face demands to review rejected work-from-home requests after the sector’s main union seized a landmark ruling which held that Westpac unlawfully denied remote work to a staffer who moved two hours from the office.

The Finance Sector Union on Wednesday wrote to Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank and other finance sector firms calling on them to re-evaluate their flexible work policies and warning they could be breaching workplace laws if they reject requests without proper consideration.