A PUBLIC servant injured on a work trip while having sex with an acquaintance in a motel room is entitled to compensation, a judge has ruled.
In the Federal Court today, Justice John Nicholas concluded that the injuries were suffered by the woman in the course of her employment.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had challenged the rejection of her workers' compensation claim for facial and psychological injuries suffered when a glass light fitting came away from the wall above the bed as she was having sex in November 2007.
The judge set aside the decision made by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, which upheld the rejection by ComCare, the federal government workplace safety body.
He said the tribunal erred in finding it was necessary for the woman to show she had been taking part in an activity which led to her injury “which was expressly or impliedly induced or encouraged by her employer”.
