Sticker duty, a 14wpm typing test and six of 13 course subjects in almost two years
An injured council worker's back ruled out outdoor work. Nearly two years of office duties on full pay never became a job.
That was the upshot of a South Australian Employment Tribunal decision delivered on September 28, 2026. The tribunal dismissed the worker's bid to make his employer, the City of Marion, a council in Adelaide's southern suburbs, give him “suitable employment.”
South Australia's return-to-work laws let an injured worker ask their employer, in writing, for suitable work. If none is offered, the worker can ask the tribunal to order it. The question here was what actually counts as a job.
For much of his time at the council, the worker was part of the civil works team. His jobs included operating a backhoe and digging trenches.
He hurt his lower back in 2019 after stepping into a hole described as “fairly deep”. In May 2022, after a week or two of concreting work, he hurt it again.
The council found him office-based duties. A short stint in IT had him peeling stickers off monitors and cleaning off the sticky residue, a task he described as meaningless. By late July 2022, he was working in the council's records unit.
The council also arranged a traineeship, paid for a Certificate III business course and gave him time off to study. According to his evidence, he was paid his full ordinary salary while doing the duties.
The course is...
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