Browsing: Workers' compensation court and tribunal decisions | Page 9

An employer has been deemed vicariously liable for the actions of a worker who negligently failed to safely reverse a forklift, causing a collision that injured one of his colleagues.

A worker's 18 grounds of appeal against an injury ruling have been dismissed, with a court upholding findings that he was not bullied by his managers and all the cited management actions taken against him were reasonable.

A tribunal has found that while workplace factors only made up one-tenth of the contributing factors to a worker's psychological condition, his employment was still a "significant" contributor.

A commission has rejected an employer's contentions that: a "violent and painful" work incident could not have caused a worker's stress disorder; and her ability to undertake "suitable duties" not long after the incident blocked her incapacity claim.

A worker who felt undue pressure to perform tasks beyond her work restrictions, after her post-surgery return-to-work plan was not communicated to management, has successfully argued she has compensable a psychological injury.

A worker who sustained a permanent impairment from slipping on stairs at his workplace has been denied damages, with a court finding his employer had taken reasonable steps to mitigate the risk of slipping, and the worker had descended the stairs imprudently.

A superior court has dismissed an employer's appeal against a finding that it acted unlawfully when it decided to cease an injured worker's weekly payments based on the opinion of a consultant occupational physician, who didn't keep records of her assessment or closely consider the relevant work incident.

A worker has failed to block his employer from accessing government records of his past driving offences and related matters, with a tribunal ruling they have "adjectival relevance" to the worker's psychological injury claim.

A Defence member who fell from a ladder while working has been denied compensation for the aggravation of his vertigo-related disease, with a tribunal ruling it could not be classified as a "service disease".

An appeals court has criticised an employer's attempts to block an incapacitated worker's injury claim after his first claim was stymied by a technicality, saying it would be "perverse" to accept the employer's arguments and calling on decision makers to respect the objectives of compensation laws.