Archive for March 2019
Break-ception: when a pre-shift smoko on-site is a ‘temporary absence’ from work
Workers’ compensation legislation can be complicated and confusing, even to experts, and the recent Queensland case of Mandep Sarkaria v Workers’ Compensation Regulator [2019] ICQ 001 aptly demonstrates just how technically bewildering this legislation can be. In this case, the Industrial Court of Queensland held that Ms Sarkaria was “temporarily absent from her place of employment” on…
Read MoreJail sentence and record fine against reckless employer sets benchmark for WHS prosecutions
In the first charge of reckless conduct to be successfully tried under the harmonised work health and safety legislation, a director of a Queensland roofing company has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for his contribution to the fatality of a 62-year-old worker. Charges against the director were upheld in a majority verdict by the…
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