Woman wins claim after tripping on pet fence while working from home

The woman was making a cup of coffee on her work break when she tripped and fell over a temporary puppy fence in her home.

A council worker in South Australia has won a compensation claim after she tripped over a puppy fence while on a paid coffee break while working from home.

The City of Charles Sturt worker was babysitting her colleague’s puppy while working from home on September 19, 2022 and set up a 60cm temporary fence across the doorway to her home office to separate the dog from her pet rabbit.

While working from home, the woman stood up from her desk and decided to make a coffee about an hour after her 8.30am shift started. However, as she walked to the kitchen, the woman stepped over the fence and got her left foot “caught in the top of the pet fence, causing her to lose balance and fall forward”.

The woman (not pictured) was working from home when she tripped on a pet fence and fractured her leg. Picture: iStock

Tripping over the pet fence, she landed on the right side of her body and wound up with a fracture to her humerus and an injury to her right knee.

The woman reported feeling “instant and extreme pain” in her arm and leg and was rushed to Royal Adelaide Hospital via an ambulance. She was discharged from hospital the same day she arrived and was referred to a physiotherapy clinic.

The woman then lodged a claim against the Local Government Association Workers Compensation Scheme and returned to her full duties six weeks later.

South Australian Employment Tribunal auxiliary deputy president and magistrate Jodie Carrel found the woman fell during an “authorised coffee break at her place of employment”, which is an action she “would have done had she been working in the office around the same time”.

The magistrate found the woman (not pictured) would have likely made a coffee at work about the same time as the fall occurred. Picture: iStock

Ms Carrel said the woman “did not have set times for short breaks over the course of her working day” and had been encouraged to “get up from her desk regularly”.

Furthermore, while the woman did not discuss the pet fence with anyone from the council, the magistrate found there was “nothing that limits the application of the workers compensation scheme by reason of an injury occurring due to a feature of the workplace not known or authorised by an employer”.

The magistrate also agreed that the injuries “arose out of her employment” and the “physical workplace hazard, being the pet fence” was a “significant contributing cause”.

While the fractured arm was not in dispute, the magistrate “cast sufficient doubt” about the extent of the injury to her right knee, arguing that while it arose from her job, it was also “temporary”, leaving Ms Carrel “not satisfied on the evidence … that it continued beyond 29 September 2022”.

With “limited information” about the compensation the woman is seeking, the magistrate confirmed that she would hear from both parties before deciding the amount.

Originally published as Woman wins claim after tripping on pet fence while working from home