Metro driver assaulted by two passengers has workers’ comp denied over ‘serious misconduct’

A Metro bus driver who was assaulted with a steel pipe by two young passengers has had his workers’ compensation claim denied. The tribunal’s findings >>>>

A Metro bus on Macquarie Street in Hobart on Tuesday 19th November 2024. Picture: Linda Higginson

A Metro bus driver who was assaulted by two passengers has lost his workers’ compensation claim after lawyers for Metro argued through the state’s tribunal that “serious misconduct” by the driver exposed him to the risk of injury.

The bus driver filed a workers’ compensation claim with Metro on December 30 last year after he was assaulted by two young passengers while driving a bus at Mowbray.

A Metro bus at Elizabeth Street in Hobart on Tuesday 19th November 2024. Picture: Linda Higginson

A medical certificate submitted to Metro included a diagnosis of “adjustment disorder with depressed and anxious mood – possible PTSD” the worker said was caused by the assault.

In submissions to the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s (TASCAT) senior member Rod Chandler, Metro disputed their liability for compensation on two grounds.

They stated that “the worker’s injury is attributable to his serious and wilful misconduct” and any mental illness arises from “reasonable action taken in a reasonable manner” or “reasonable administrative action taken in a reasonable manner” by Metro.

Mr Chandler also reviewed evidence such as letters between the driver and managers and CCTV footage of the driver’s assault, where the driver instructed two youths to disembark his bus after drinking and while trying to “manhandle him towards the door” was punched several times by one youth and hit with a metal pipe by another.

Mr Chandler contended that the driver did not follow Metro’s Bus Operator Manual, mainly by not attempting to de-escalate the situation and approaching the youths, and there was a reasonable case from the employer.

People catching a bus in Macquarie Street in Hobart. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE.

“However, an assessment on the worker’s state of mind and his appreciation of the risk associated with his action is not possible at this time and can only be determined after a full hearing,” Mr Chandler said.

Mr Chandler also found Metro acted reasonably in suspending the worker on full pay while an investigation continued after he sped through red lights and drove erratically to attend a hospital.

“CCTV footage taken from the bus indicates that on this journey, the worker has driven the bus erratically, has gone through multiple red lights, sounding his horn and overtaken vehicles travelling in opposite lanes,” Mr Chandler said.

“He abandoned the bus outside the hospital at the employer’s bus stop and then took himself to the hospital’s Emergency Department.”

Mr Chandler ordered that Metro did not need to pay compensation to the driver.

Originally published as Metro driver assaulted by two passengers has workers’ comp denied over ‘serious misconduct’