A compensation ruling has been overturned for a worker hit by billiard ball while having lunch.

Motor claims officer Susan Stoddard was hit in the head while eating at the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia (RAA) café, and says she can no longer work and deserves compensation.

The RAA has stopped paying her, saying she has been cleared to go back to work.

When the matter was taken to court, the South Australian Employment Tribunal heard Ms Stoddard was hit with the ball on the left temple while she was eating lunch at the staff cafe on September 23, 2019.

“Ms Stoddard sustained an injury when she was struck by a billiard ball from a pool table in the cafe at the RAA premises,” a judgement by the tribunal states.

She made a claim immediately and received “interim payments” by the RAA while she was not working from September 24 to December 7.

An examination by neurologist Tim Kleinig led the RAA to advise Ms Stoddard that she had “a full capacity to work”.

The RAA accepted her claim of being injured from September 23 to November 21, but not from November 22 to December 7, and decided not to claw back the payments for the latter period.

After Ms Stoddard appealed the decision, the tribunal told the RAA to continue to make payments to her.

The RAA has now won an order not to have to continue paying her.

Ms Stoddard's doctor said Ms Stoddard was “unfit for work” and had “post-concussion syndrome”, suffering from fatigue, sensory overload, memory impairment, dizziness and headaches, her doctor said.

Tribunal president Steven Dolphin said allowing the RAA to discontinue payments is not an official decision under the Return to Work Act, meaning the tribunal had no jurisdiction to make the association continue to pay.

Additionally, the interim payments do not mean the RAA is admitting liability in the case.