Comcare has announced it has lodged an appeal with the High Court of Australia to overturn a previous Federal Court ruling that backed a compensation claim made by a Commonwealth employee who sustained an injury during sex, on a business trip.

 

Comcare is lodging the appeal in a bid to see a High Court ruling on the boundaries between private and business activities when employees are traveling for work related purposes.

 

Opposition Workplace Relations spokesman, Senator Eric Abetz, said that left unchallenged, the ruling would set a dangerous precedent.

 

“Following this logic one assumes, the Commonwealth would also be liable for any sexually transmitted disease contracted during this trip as well as potentially liable should the employee become pregnant,” Senator Abetz said.