Fair Work Commission vice-president Michael Lawler has resigned effective immediately.  This comes on the eve of the 4 March deadline for him to respond to a report on his controversial use of paid sick leave.

Employment Minister Michaelia Cash confirmed Mr. Lawler's resignation in a statement before the Senate.

A retired Federal Court judge had been appointed to investigate Mr. Lawler's conduct in taking nine months of full-paid sick leave from his $435,000 job to support his partner - disgraced former union leader Kathy Jackson - through her legal battle over the theft of AU$1.4 Million from the Health Services Union. Ms Jackson was ordered to repay that money last year.

Last October, Fair Work Commission president Ian Ross told a Senate hearing he had approved 215 days of sick leave for Mr. Lawler, but only on the basis that he was medically unfit to perform his duties.  "He did not seek and I did not approve leave for the purpose of assisting his partner in legal proceedings," Mr. Ross said.

This also comes a day after the body of a 40-year-old man was discovered in the New South Wales home of Lawler and Jackson.  The man is believed to have been an acquaintance of the couple who died from a "medical episode" and was not being treated as suspicious.