Woman seeks compensation for 'workplace accident' suffered during sex

An Australian public servant has taken the Government to court after it rejected her compensation claim for an "everyday accident" suffered as she was having sex in a hotel room during a work-related trip.

The woman suffered injuries to her nose, mouth and teeth after a glass light fitted to the wall above her bed fell on top of her while she was having sex, explained her lawyer Leo Grey.

The state worker was staying the night in a New South Wales rural hotel prior to a departmental meeting scheduled for the next day. She claimed compensation from her employee after suffering what she described as facial and psychological injuries during a trip carried out for work purposes.

Her lawyer argued to the Sydney courthouse that what happened to his client was an "everyday accident which happened to occur at night in her hotel room". He also maintained that she did not require official authorisation in order to have visitors.

According to the woman''s ''visitor'' the light may have become detached from the ceiling because they were "going hard" though he could not be sure.

Lawyer Andrew Berger, representing the Australian Government, argued that eating, sleeping and attending to personal hygiene could be considered necessary activities during work trips, but that sex did not fall into this category.