Should firm pay for worker's biz trip sex injury?
This Australian worker thinks her company should compensate her for the freak accident that occurred in her hotel room during a business trip … but her employer doesn’t agree.
Here’s what happened: The employee — who works for the Australian government’s public service firm ComCare — was staying in a motel because of a business meeting she had the next day. During her stay, she was having sex with a male friend, who wasn’t associated with her company, when a light fitting broke off of the wall above the bed and smashed her face.
The woman says she sustained injuries to her nose, mouth, a tooth, plus “a consequent psychiatric injury.”
When asked ComCare for compensation, the company said sexual activity wasn’t an ordinary part of an overnight stay and denied her claim.
So she sued the company because, according to her lawyer, the injury took place during “an ordinary incident of life commonly undertaken in a motel room at night.” The injured public servant’s lawyer added, “there had not been any rule that employees should not have anyone else in their room without express permission of their department.”
Readers what do you think: Should the company pay up or is this woman out of line claiming her intercourse injuries were “work-related”? Let us know in the Comments section.
Free Training & Resources
White Papers
Provided by Anaplan
Further Reading
A federal court has approved a proposed $162 million class action settlement between Public Partnerships LLC (PPL) and personal assistants ...
The new Mississippi Work and Save Program creates a voluntary, state-run retirement savings option for private-sector employees whose emplo...
The rollercoaster ride continues as federal regulators reevaluate the current overtime rule and what it means to meet the salary level test...
Not all companies handle payroll records the same way. Firms may keep data in multiple systems — payroll, HR, timekeeping and the gen...
The IRS has increased 2026 mileage rates for the second half of the year due to rising fuel prices. Here are the changes that took effect o...
The Department of Labor’s independent contractor (IC) rule that went into effect on March 11 is forcing many businesses to triple-che...