Woman injured during sex gets worker's comp.

First off, I gotta say; it took some serious balls to put in for this worker's comp claim;

A woman went on a business trip and hooked up with a friend in her hotel room. During some rambunctious sex, a lamp fell on her face. She filed a worker's comp claim for facial injuries and psychological issues.

Naturally, the company refused to pay and a lower court agreed but, the Australian Supreme Court upheld her right to worker's comp.

Woman Injured During Sex While On Business Trip To Get Workers’ Comp

"If the applicant had been injured while playing a game of cards in her motel room she would have been entitled to compensation," Justice John Nicholas stated in his decision. "In the absence of any misconduct or an intentionally self inflicted injury, the fact that the applicant was engaged in sexual activity rather than some other lawful recreational activity does not lead to any different result."

The ruling reverses a lower court's decision to deny the claim on the basis that sex was "not an ordinary incident of an overnight stay like showering, sleeping, eating."

Gawker

Both the lower and higher court bring up some interesting arguments. On the one hand, the company should only be liable for injuries incurred during ordinary incidents. If an employee went out bungee jumping in their spare time, should they still be covered by their company's worker's comp?

On the other hand, you can't expect employees to sit idly in their motel rooms twiddling their thumbs when not actually working.

There should be a line somewhere marking where an employer is responsible when they sent an employee on a business trip.

reply to post by FortAnthem

engaged in sexual activity rather than some other lawful recreational activity does not lead to any different result."

the fine line is general etiquette tolerance. We should really be asking , What does the company tolerate? Now , many jobs you go to , and there is some free time , playing cards would be one of the things you expect , employees to do , while passing the time, and can easily put the cards down and flash back to work , when it picks up . But sex you have to put on your clothing .

Secondly sex would never be tolerated ,in the work place unless of course it calls for it. But no general etiquette tolerance would be given to sex acts.

If the person gets some sort of STD. should the medical bills also be covered ? Since the act was taken place , during work ? and she already got compensation ?

Of course not . Because the employeer woud never tolerate that as accetable , time passing acivity .

Therefore her case should be thrown out ,and employeer should sue , for lost productivity during her sexual pleasure, hotel costs , and time wasted by courts. While she was having sex , she could've been thinking about how to make company more productive , or do some of tommorws work that night. Seeing as her little getaway is all paid , every second she basically is getting paid , hotel costs , hourlypay , food for her lover afterwards lol.

reply to post by FortAnthem


This is probably the dumbest supreme court ruling I've ever read of any nation in history. The fact that they even heard this case tells me the Australian Supreme Court clearly has to much time on their hands.

Next time I'm on a business trip I'll be sure to have rambunctious sex and claim my back hurts. Maybe get some free money and time off for my troubles.

Funny thing is I recently hurt myself preforming the same erm.. "business duties" but it wasn't during business hours or on a trip.

That's a shame.

They hate paying out compensation to anyone, so in order to smear the pot, and make everyone upset, obviously this seems like the kind of thing TPTB orchestrate.

The psychological damage was quite hilarious.

Comical and pathetic at the same time.

I am not familiar with Australian law, of course, but it seems odd that one doesn't have to be in the actual performance of one's duties when suffering an injury, in order to collect.

The simple fact that she was inside a hotel room that the Company was paying for her, when she suffered this injury...while "resting"...entitles her? Wow.

Truly strange. And that she pressed the matter all the way to the Supreme Court...double wow.

reply to post by seedofchucky


I think that makes the most sense; they should only cover activities that would be licitly allowed in the workplace or allowed during breaktime at work. Most companies frown upon sexual activity on the job site so it shouldn't be covered under worker's comp if it happens on a business trip. If it were to happen on the jobsite, then it would be considered an infraction of work rules and punishable by disciplinary action.

Still, we are looking at this through the puritanical American attitudes on sex. I'm sure the attitudes aren't as strict in Australia (topless beaches anyone?) and they may be more accepting over there. You also have to figure that most people on business travel will probably seek out some sort of sexual activity as people tend to do when they get away for a while.

You also have to ask how this would have gone down if it had been a male employee or if the employee had taken their spouse along for the trip? Does being married make sex on a business trip more licit? Does it being her out of town boyfriend make it more acceptable than hiring an escort? You certainly can't expect an employee on business travel to spent their whole time 24/7 thinking and acting like they would in the workplace.

My thinking is that any type of sexual activity done while on business travel is being done outside the scope of the employee's work responsibilities and the employee should be personally responsible for the consequences (financial or otherwise) of activities that aren't directly work related.

To make the business responsible for the consequences of what happens in the bedroom during a business trip will only lead to more insane uses of the worker's comp law. Soon employers will be responsible for the STDs employees get from prostitutes at business conventions and maybe even find themselves paying child support for children concieved during business trips.

I'm just glad this decision was handed down outside the US.