A teacher at a Launceston Catholic school is seeking workers compensation from the Archdiocese of Tasmania, after experiencing anxiety-related symptoms she says arose from a high workload and a meeting that left her feeling "shaken".
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The woman, who works at St Anthony's Catholic School at Riverside, has taken the matter to the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Tribunal after making a claim in October last year.
It came in the wake of a meeting with the mother of a student and other school staff in mid-September.
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The teacher's GP said she was "shaken" by the meeting, and that the student's mother had been "talking over her and was disrespectful".
"[The teacher] said initially she had not realised what was 'happening with my body'," the doctor said. "She said she was trembling."
Under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church Trust Corporation of the Archdiocese of Tasmania, St Anthony's Catholic School argued the employee - who was away from work for seven weeks after she made her claim - hadn't suffered an injury arising out of the course of her employment.
The case hinged on the GP's conclusions about his patient and whether or not they were admissible as evidence.
The doctor suggested the teacher's symptoms had occurred after she'd increased her alcohol intake.
But Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Tribunal commissioner Lucinda Wilkins wasn't convinced the doctor's conclusions were based in fact, saying that some of the literature he'd cited to show that his patient had engaged in heavy drinking was "both unfair and highly prejudicial to the worker".
"It is my view that the employer has not demonstrated that it has a reasonably arguable case to dispute the worker's claim for compensation," she said.
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