His own crew, his own ABN and a 15% income share settled the classification question
An injured flower-farm labourer sought workers' compensation. A Victorian court found he ran his own business - and that decided the question before it.
The Supreme Court of Victoria has delivered a practical lesson for HR and employment teams on the line between an employee and an independent contractor - the classification that decides who is covered by workers' compensation.
In a decision handed down on July 31, 2026, a man who had picked and grown flowers in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges for years was injured. According to his account, he suffered a severe back injury after using an auger in January 2021. He sued the flower-farm company, Gardens of Distinction Pty Ltd, arguing he was its employee - or at least a "deemed worker" - under Victoria's Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013.
The label carried real consequences. If he was a "worker," the workers' compensation scheme would cover his claim. If he was an independent contractor, ordinary negligence law would apply instead. The company's defence was filed on instructions from the Victorian WorkCover Authority, the scheme insurer. A second insurer, Insurance Australia Ltd, took part as a non-party because it had a direct interest in the answer.
Rather than run the whole trial at once, the court separated out one question to decide first: was the man a "worker" of the company? The court answered no. That was the...
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