An overview of legal procedure & case law
Injuring the employee in his or her employment covers injury of any compensable kind.[1]
‘Injury’ refers to deprivation of one or more immediate practical incidents of employment, such as loss of pay or reduction in rank.[2]
‘Injuring the employee in his or her employment’ has also been taken to have a wider meaning than financial injury or injury involving deprivation of rights which the employee has under a contract of service. It can be applicable to any circumstances where an employee in the course of his or her employment is treated substantially differently to the manner in which he or she is ordinarily treated and where that treatment can be seen to be injurious or prejudicial.[3]
‘Singling out’ has been used as a way of categorising a particular injury in employment.[4] However, it does not in itself constitute injurious treatment. The ‘injury’ in this context continues to refer to the deprivation of one of the more immediate practical incidents of employment.[5]
[1] Patrick Stevedores Operations No 2 Pty Ltd v Maritime Union of Australia [1998] HCA 30 (4 May 1998) at para. 4, [(1998) 195 CLR 1].
[2] Childs v Metropolitan Transport Trust (1981) IAS Current Review 946.
[3] Re Richard James Squires v Flight Stewards Association of Australia [1982] FCA 165 (19 August 1982), [(1982) 2 IR 155].
[4] Re Richard James Squires v Flight Stewards Association of Australia [1982] FCA 165 (19 August 1982), [(1982) 2 IR 155]; Byrne v Australian Ophthalmic Supplies Pty Ltd [2008] FCA 66 (14 February 2008), [(2008) 169 IR 236]; Community & Public Sector Union v Telstra Corporation Ltd [2001] FCA 267 (21 March 2001), [(2001) 107 FCR 93].
[5] Childs v Metropolitan Transport Trust (1981) IAS Current Review 946; Maritime Union of Australia v Geraldton Port Authority [1999] FCA 899 (5 July 1999) at para. 229, [(1999) 93 FCR 34].