Woman wins case for injuries during sex while on duty

The woman was on a work-related tour.

The woman, in her late 30s, was working in human relations for a government agency which had sent her to a town in New South Wales, where she and a colleague conducted budget reviews and met local staff. She was booked into a motel, a major newspaper reported.

A judge ruled that the woman was hurt during the course of her employment because she had been sent in November 2007 on a job in the small rural town where she had checked into the motel.

The court said the woman, whose name hasn't been released, is entitled to compensation for facial and psychological injuries suffered when a light fixture fell off the wall in her motel room.

The male friend she had gone to bed with testified that they were "having sex" and he did not know if they bumped the light above the bed or whether it just fell off.

"I think she was on her back when it happened, but I was not paying attention because we were rolling around," he said in his statement.

Justice John Nicholas of the Australian Federal Court agreed with the woman's barrister that she was hurt during the course of her employment while visiting the town.