You might have read about a Tasmanian worker who was awarded worker's compensation for being on-call when they broke their leg during a dog walk.
If you were scratching your head like many on the ABC Hobart Facebook page about how a seemingly non-workplace case can succeed, it's worth remembering that many compensation cases are more complex than they first appear.
The key legal hurdle that cases need to clear is that the worker sustained the injury during the "course of their employment".
Here's how that can be proven and why some of the more unusual cases succeeded and why others failed.
The unusual cases: sex on work trip, co-worker 'urination event'
Claims in this field of law can come from a wide range of circumstances.
In the case of the Hydro Tasmania worker, Buddy Nazar was working in a relief position for the company at a Hydro-provided residence in the remote town of Tullah, 90 minutes from his home, when the accident happened.
The full bench of the Supreme Court ruled the accident occurred in the course of his employment because he was on call at the time, required to be able to respond within 15 minutes, and was paid for his time on call.
Mr Nazar had noticed he had no phone signal while on the dog walk and was injured after he returned to an area with mobile phone reception.
But other cases that have hit the headlines have not been so successful.
In 2013, a Commonwealth government worker in her 30s was unsuccessful in securing compensation after a light fitting fell on her while she was having sex in a motel room during a work trip.
The woman said the light hit her in the face, injuring her nose, mouth and a tooth and also causing a psychiatric adjustment disorder.
Her employer had booked her into the motel room but the court ruled it was not liable because the incident happened after hours.
And in Queensland last year, a 25-year-old hospitality worker had their workers' compensation case thrown out after a "urination event" involving his flatmate, who was also his co-worker.
It was part of his employment contract at a north Queensland island resort that he share accommodation.
WorkSafe Queensland said the man woke one morning to find his flatmate urinating in his mouth.
Both sides of the case agreed the incident was accidental and the flatmate had a pre-existing narcolepsy condition.
The Supreme Court ruled against the worker, finding the employer could not have foreseen or controlled the co-worker's behaviour after hours.
What's the bar that compensation cases must reach?
Regardless of how unusual the circumstances are, all cases must satisfy the laws governing workers' compensation schemes in the particular state or territory.
There are 11 workers' compensation schemes in Australia — one for each state or territory and three Commonwealth schemes.
In Tasmania, where the Hydro Tasmania worker was successful in his compensation claim, the law requires a worker to prove their injury occurred during the "course of employment".
Tasmania's Chief Justice Alan Blow said workers could prove they met the "course of employment" definition by satisfying any of these four factors:
- The worker was performing their actual duties
- They were doing something reasonably required in carrying out these duties
- They were induced to do something by their employer while in an interval between periods of work
- They were somewhere for their employment and were injured doing something induced by their employer
Applying the law can be 'tricky', barrister says
Tasmanian barrister Simon Gates, who has worked on compensation cases for almost a decade, said it could be a "complicated and tricky" area of law.
"It hasn't been uncommon for me to have a client come along [to] talk about something which has nothing to do with workers' compensation and then mention a few things during the meeting," Mr Gates said.
"And I'll start to say, 'Have you made a workers' compensation claim?' And they look at me a bit funny, and I'll say, 'What you've just described is a clear workers' compensation case.'"
He said the core detail was that the injury occurred while in the course of, or arose out of, the worker's employment — even if, in some circumstances, they did not feel the brunt of the injury right then and there.
For example, he said, a worker who has done heavy-lifting work over a period of time might only notice a gradual increase in their back pain.
"But they don't actually have the 'ouch moment' until they get home, and they'll often assume that that means they're not entitled to compensation," he said.
"But that's actually a medical issue."
However, that can work both ways, Mr Gates said, with some injuries entirely unrelated to your employment sometimes arising while you're on the clock.
"And that's why it's so important to get legal advice. Because it is a bit of a minefield — it's a complicated area," he said.
Stigma of claiming workers' compensation
Mr Gates said people who claimed workers' compensation often faced stigma.
He said injuries resulting from work, including stress-related health issues, were genuine struggles facing Australians.
"People make assumptions, adverse assumptions, about people claiming workers' compensation," he said.
"But the reality is … you've got some [workers] who might have trained for a long time to get a particular job, or they've worked their entire life developing skills for this particular job, and then because of an injury they're not able to do it.
"So often you can have the livelihood of the family, and the mental health and wellbeing of the worker [on the line] … [and they are] having the rug pulled out."
