Welcome to Australia - compensation for worker hurt during sex in hotel

StephenW

On the job compo taken to new level: worker hurt during sex in hotel                    Paul Bibby            
The lawyer representing a woman who was injured while she was having sex in a hotel room during a work trip in rural NSW says his client was undertaking "normal behaviour" akin to bathing or sleeping and is entitled to compensation.
            The woman, a Commonwealth government employee whose name has been suppressed by the Federal Court, suffered injuries to her nose and mouth, as well as a psychiatric injury, when a light fitting attached to the wall of the hotel she was staying in fell on her head during sex.
            The man in bed with her at the time has been described in court documents as "an acquaintance".

            The woman's claim is based on the fact that she suffered the injuries "during the course of her employment", because she was required to travel to the country town and to stay overnight to attend a budget review meeting early the next day.
            Her barrister, Leo Grey, argued in the Federal Court  today that she was "induced or encouraged" by her employer to spend the night at the hotel where the incident occurred, and was thus entitled to compensation under workers' compensation laws.
            The woman is appealing against a decision by Comcare, the federal government workplace safety body, upheld by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which found that sex was not an "ordinary activity" during an overnight stay.
            But Mr Grey said the fact that his client was having sex had little to do with the case.
            "This case ... is as much about slipping in the shower, or being beaten by a gang of thugs or being shot by a jealous rival," he said.
            "[She] was sent to the town to a hotel that was selected by her particular department. She has been been encouraged to spend a particular period of employment at a particular place."
            He said that, for the woman's employer to avoid paying compensation, it needed to have informed her that having sex while on a work trip was not appropriate behaviour, either by telling her explicitly or through a list of rules such as a code of conduct. He said there was no evidence that such a direction was made.
            "Having sex is just one of those things [like eating or bathing]. It's not the 1920s, after all."
            But the barrister for Comcare, Andrew Burger, said that there was not a sufficient degree of connection between the incident and what the woman was actually being employed to do.
            He said compensation could only be paid if the woman's employer had "encouraged or induced" the woman to have sex, which was not the case.
            "There's nothing about this that could have led the employer to reasonably conclude that this injury might occur," he said.
            "If she was to hold a swingers' party, that isn't something that can be contemplated by the employer ... and neither is this."
            Federal Court Justice John Nicholas will make a decision on the matter in the coming weeks.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/on-the-job-compo-taken-to-new-level-worker-hurt-during-sex-in-hotel-20110727-1hzri.html#ixzz1TJmtkTXO