EMPLOYMENT LAW — Liability at common law for injury at work — Causation and foreseeability — Foreseeability — Where plaintiff was employed by the defendants as an optical technician in an optometry shop — Where plaintiff worked alone during daylight hours and would repair spectacles in the shop’s back room obscured from view — Where plaintiff had limited view of the front section of the shop when in the back room — Where the back room was not installed with any device to prevent people from following the plaintiff in to the back room or to alert the plaintiff to the presence of an intruder — Where plaintiff was sexually assaulted by a customer when she was in the back room repairing his spectacles — Where plaintiff claimed that she had a history of child sexual abuse and developed severe post traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety following the assault — Whether the risk of injury to the plaintiff was foreseeable.

TORTS — Negligence — Essentials of action for negligence — Special relationships and duties — Employer and employee — Where plaintiff was employed by the defendants as an optical technician in an optometry shop and was sexually assaulted by a customer when she was alone at work — Where plaintiff developed severe post traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety following the assault — Where employer owes a duty of care to employees to provide a safe system of work — Where employer owes a duty of care to employees to take reasonable care to protect employees from the criminal behaviour of third parties — Whether defendants breached their duty to take reasonable care to avoid the foreseeable risk of injury to the plaintiff.

To read more you can visit http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/qld/QSC/2010/344.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=sapwell%20v%20lusk