Pollock v Stickfast Labels Pty Limited (In Liq)

[2002] NSWCA 360

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Workers Compensation
2. › Personal injury
3. › Course of employment
4. › Whether injury arose out of or in the course of employment
5. › Worker departing from authorised duties for personal purpose
6. › Injection of heroin on employer's premises
7. › Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), s 14(2)
1. Workers Compensation
2. › Serious and wilful misconduct
3. › Section 14(2) Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW)
4. › Whether provision converts conduct outside course of employment into conduct within it
5. › Whether provision applicable where injury not sustained in course of employment
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Appeal
3. › Appeal on point of law only
4. › Credibility findings
5. › Whether failure to give reasons for rejecting evidence constituted error of law
6. › Compensation Court Act 1984 (NSW), s 32(1)

Quick Take

Section 14(2) of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), which preserves compensation for serious and permanent disablement despite serious and wilful misconduct, does not convert conduct outside the course of employment into conduct within it. A worker who deliberately ceases authorised work for the sole purpose of engaging in personal conduct disapproved by the employer (here, injecting heroin) takes himself outside the course of employment, and injuries sustained during that conduct are not compensable.