Posted on May 12, 2013 by Richard B. Cohen

High Court To Shed Light On "Sex And The Chandelier" Case

David Miller, a litigator from Sydney, Australia, helpfully wrote about the workers comp decision from Australia which we discussed last week where an employer was found liable for injuries sustained from a falling chandelier by an employee who was traveling for work and had "wild sex" in her motel room:  

"And now the case is off to our High Court - the equivalent of SCOTUS in the judicial hierarchy - http://www.smh.com.au/national/sex-injury-compo-case-goes-to-the-high-court-20130510-2jdcc.html"

For those scholars who want to conduct further legal research into the factual underpinnings of this fascinating case, a click on the above link is a required first step.

 

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Posted on May 8, 2013 by Richard B. Cohen

Should Employees Sign A Waiver To Protect Employers: "I Agree Not To Engage In Wild Sex On A Business Trip"?

Our post the other day about an employer in Australia found liable under workers comp for an employee's injuries suffered from wild sex and a falling chandelier drew more comments than any single previous post.  Can't figure out why?

The best comment (so far) is from Laurie Butler, an HR person, who wrote on a LinkedIn group page the following:

"Aussies -- you've gotta hand it to them! It's an interesting thought. The employer had to pay compensation because it had caused her to be in the room. So if she had sex on the desk in her cubicle, and the desk collapsed and injured her, the employer would still be liable? The employee has a desk for the purpose of taking care of the employer's business. I know that a certain amount of joking around and horseplay is to be expected, but wild and crazy sex? I guess employers are going to have to have people sign waivers before they travel on business: I hereby agree that I will not engage in any sexual activity other than the missionary position while traveling for work purposes.  Ah -- life in Oz! G'day, mate!"

 

A partner of ours asked whether this waiver would give employers license to inquire about the sex lives of employees.  Oy vey!

 

 

 

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Posted on April 27, 2012 by Christina Stoneburner

ADA? and FMLA? and Workers' Compensation? - Oh, My!

For the title of this blog I've taken some liberties with the original dialog from the Wizard of Oz (for the actual dialog click here).  If, when you hear these words, you find yourself wishing you could just click your heels and go home, you are not alone as that is a common reaction from my clients.

 

Recently, I had the opportunity to present at a seminar with Meg Errickson from Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC in New York City.  The overall topic was on reducing your Workers' Compensation costs. 

 

We have blogged extensively about disability issues under the ADA (2/8/12 and 3/30/11, for example).  We have not, however, spoken about workers' compensation and Family and Medical Leave Act ("FMLA") retaliation, but both statutes do prohibit employers from retaliating against an employee for claiming the benefits of the statute.

 

As most of you know, the ADA and FMLA can be complicated.  Throw in workers' compensation and you have a recipe for disaster.  My part of the presentation was on understanding obligations under all of these laws in order to reduce workers' compensation costs and retaliation claims.

 

If you would like to check out the presentation, you can view my slide show here:  http://www.slideshare.net/cstoneburner/rl1-1022709v1marsh-interplay

 

 

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