O'Sullivan and P & O Maritime Services Pty Ltd

This matter concerned a claim for compensation under the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992 (SRC Act) brought by Mr O’Sullivan against P & O Maritime Services Pty Ltd (the Company). Mr O’Sullivan alleged he sustained a back injury, described as lumbrosacral radiculopathy and a slipped disc affecting his lower back and left leg, on 26 August 2014. This claim was lodged on 12 November 2014, with Mr O’Sullivan citing the Company as his employer at the time of the alleged injury. The Company rejected the claim on the basis that Mr O’Sullivan was not an employee at the time of the incident.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the Company was Mr O’Sullivan’s actual or deemed employer for the purposes of his compensation claim under the SRC Act, in relation to the injury sustained on 26 August 2014. This required the Tribunal to consider the employment relationship between the parties at the time of the alleged injury, particularly in light of Mr O’Sullivan's prior injury in 1993, for which he had received compensation from the Company, and the subsequent termination of his employment with the Company in 1994.

The Tribunal was required to determine if the circumstances of the 2014 incident constituted a "fresh injury" or an "aggravation" of a pre-existing condition, and crucially, whether an employment relationship with the Company could be established for the purposes of the SRC Act in relation to this later incident. The Tribunal noted that Mr O’Sullivan had been removed from a register of employment and his employment with the Company had been terminated in 1994, and he had subsequently obtained social security benefits and worked for other employers before returning to seafarer employment from 2006 onwards. The Company's rejection of the claim was based on the assertion that Mr O’Sullivan was not an employee at the time of the 2014 injury.

Following a directions hearing, the Tribunal ordered that a further telephone directions hearing be scheduled at the earliest convenient date, to occur no earlier than 14 days from the date of the ruling.