The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory held that a mental injury arising from a worker's genuine but unfounded perception of radioactive contamination from an actual workplace event (cleaning vehicles from a tailings dam) is capable of constituting a compensable injury 'arising out of or in the course of employment' under the Return to Work Act 1986 (NT), even where no physical injury was established and the claim for physical injury had been abandoned. However, the Court held that the Work Health Court erred in finding the mental injury was also caused by workplace bullying and harassment, because the expert opinions supporting that finding were predicated on incidents the trial court itself found did not occur, rendering those opinions without probative value. The Court adopted the Haritos v FCT framework for determining the scope of 'question of law' appeals under s 116 of the Return to Work Act, holding that mixed questions of fact and law are not necessarily excluded, and remitted the issues of normal weekly earnings, interest, and medical expenses to the Work Health Court for proper determination.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 1 later case that cites this judgment.