Summary On 30 October 2013 the High Court overturned the widely publicised decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court in which a travelling worker's facial injuries sustained during an after hours sexual encounter was held to be work related.
In ruling that the injuries were not work related (and therefore not compensable), the High Court considered the circumstances in which an injury occurring during a work interval (such as after work hours but during a business trip) will be an injury 'in the course of employment'. The majority of the High Court confirmed that:
Where an employer requires an employee to remain at a particular place, the time spent at the particular place will ordinarily be considered to be one whole period of work. The times when no actual work is being performed (eg. lunch breaks and evenings) are treated as intervals in the period of work / work interval;
In order for an employer to be held liable for injuries sustained by an employee during a work interval, there must be a connection between the circumstance which caused the injury and the employment; and
The mere fact that an employer requires an employee to be at a particular place where an injury occurs will not always be sufficient to render the employer liable.
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