Rafy
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- 2008
http://www.news.com.au/business/tel...-working-at-home/story-e6frfm1i-1226081649913
EMPLOYER groups are outraged by a legal decision that makes employers responsible for injuries suffered by staff working from home.
Telstra will be made to pay legal and medical costs in a multimillion-dollar ruling by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
Telstra worker Dale Hargreaves, 42, said she slipped down the stairs twice in two months while working on marketing campaigns from her Brisbane townhouse.
Telstra denied liability because the falls occurred outside Ms Hargreaves designated workstation.
But the tribunal found the shoulder injuries she suffered were work-related. Telstra will also have to pay compensation for lost income.
In the first fall at 6pm on August 21, 2006, Ms Hargreaves was going to get cough medicine from the fridge in her sock-clad feet. In the second at 8.40am on October 9 the same year, she was locking the front door in line with Telstra's instructions following a break-in at her home.
The tribunal found both falls "arose out of Ms Hargreaves' employment with Telstra" which made them workplace injuries.
Legal experts said the ruling could force employers to conduct workplace health and safety audits in the homes of the one-in-four Queenslanders who regularly work from their private residence for lifestyle reasons.
The Queensland Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that would be "a bad outcome for everyone concerned".
"An employer has no capacity whatsoever to determine and influence workplace health and safety arrangements at a person's home office," QCCI policy manager Nick Behrens said.
"What the ruling essentially does is significantly discourage an employer providing workplace flexibility. It could be a catalyst for a significant change in employer behaviour."
Under the terms of the ruling, Ms Hargreaves could receive millions of dollars in compensation if she is unable to work again.
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