A WOMAN employed as a work health safety adviser at Upper Hunter Shire Council in 2017 is seeking compensation after contracting Q fever. Login or signup to continue reading Angela Magnan first made her workers compensation claim in 2018 alleging that she caught Q fever, a bacterial infection which starts in animals such as cattle, sheep and goats and which can cause "a severe flu-like illness", while at work. Ms Magnan is claiming for weekly benefits, treatment expenses and a lump sum claim.
The council is fighting the claim, questioning whether the infection fits within the definition of an injury, and whether or not her job was the main contributing factor to her contracting it. The council also questions whether Ms Magnan developed Q fever at all, whether that has incapacitated her for work, and whether she has the right to compensation. Other issues include, if she does pass those tests, what her entitlement to medical and related expenses might be and whether she is entitled to permanent impairment compensation.
The matter has been back and forth in the Personal Injury Commission because Ms Magnan has since moved to Queensland. As a rule, the commission cannot determine cases which cross into federal jurisdiction, which occurs when they involve residents of different states, or a state and a resident of another state, on which grounds the commission dismissed the claim. Ms Magnan then applied to the civil jurisdiction of the NSW District Court to overturn that decision.
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