A manager who acted on a workplace bystander empowerment initiative by admonishing a worker for her rude behaviour did not engage in "administrative action", a tribunal has ruled in finding the psychological injury the act caused is compensable.
A worker has unsuccessfully claimed his employer unreasonably withheld work from him after he recovered from a back injury and this caused his psychological condition. A tribunal found the "recertification" process that troubled the worker was "not work-related.
A tribunal has highlighted an employer's efforts to accommodate a worker's ergonomic concerns and make workplace adjustments for him based on medical recommendations, in rejecting his claim that data entry work caused compensable "writer's cramp" and carpal tunnel syndrome.
A tribunal has rejected a worker's keyboard-related occupational overuse injury claim, and her bid for household services, after finding it is beneficial for her to undertake some of her own housework.
A worker's epilepsy-related death was materially contributed to by his late-night shift work and sleep deprivation, a tribunal has ruled in finding his widow is entitled to $400,000 in death benefits.
A major employer's liability for the aggravation of a worker's back injury ceased when the work-related component of her condition resolved, a tribunal has ruled in referring to a High Court judgment, and rejecting the worker's claim that looking down at work contributed to her incapacity.
Tribunal decisions have shown that reasonable management actions, which often block psychological injury claims, can include actions not detailed in legislation, according to new guidance for decision makers.
The High Court has rejected a regulator's bid to appeal against a ruling allowing an injured worker to "combine" his impairments, and dismissed a PCBU's challenge of its $400,000 fatality fine and conviction.
A team leader's occasionally "less than polite" correspondence with a worker, who developed a psychiatric condition, did not constitute bullying or unreasonable administrative action, a tribunal has found.
