No mandate, no policy, a jab on a day off - and the tribunal still tied it to the job
An employer never mandated the COVID-19 vaccine. A tribunal has still found the injury that followed is compensable under the workers' compensation scheme.
The South Australian Employment Tribunal delivered the decision on July 30, 2026, in a workers' compensation claim brought by an occupational therapist against Return to Work Corporation of South Australia, the state's compensation authority. For HR, it is a sharp reminder that informal encouragement can carry legal weight long after the fact.
The worker was employed four days a week by a disability and aged care provider. She received two vaccine doses in July and August 2021 and later developed myopathy - a muscle disease - including complex dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing. Medical evidence linked the condition to the vaccine, and the compensation authority did not dispute that link.
Two problems stood in her way. The first was timing. She lodged her claim in August 2024, well past the six-month window that usually applies. The second was causation. Was getting vaccinated something that arose out of her job at all?
On timing, the tribunal accepted that she simply did not know she could claim. It found that the first time she realised she might have an entitlement was in April 2024, after a friend raised it in conversation. That lack of awareness excused the delay. The tribunal also found the compensation authority had not been substantially prejudiced by the wait, since it could still investigate and call witnesses.
The second question matters more for HR. When she was vaccinated, there was no government mandate and no company policy requiring it. Vaccination was voluntary. So how did a jab on a day off become linked to her job?
The answer was encouragement. The tribunal accepted that the employer had encouraged her to get vaccinated when she did, though it had not directed her to. Evidence showed vaccination was voluntary before a formal policy took effect in November 2021, but that staff expected it would eventually become mandatory. The tribunal found the worker got vaccinated to keep her job, and that both she and her employer treated a mandate as a matter of when, not if.
The tribunal did not accept the worker's account in full. Where her evidence conflicted with her manager's, it preferred the manager, and it said it had not found the worker an impressive witness. Even so, it was satisfied that but for her employment and her employer's encouragement, she would not have been vaccinated when she did.
The legal test was whether employment was a significant contributing cause of the injury. The tribunal found that it was, satisfying both limbs of the relevant section of the Return to Work Act 2014. The injury was ruled compensable.
The decision did not settle how much she will receive. That question was reserved for a further hearing.
For HR leaders, the takeaway is about the reach of a nudge. This employer mandated nothing. It encouraged staff to get vaccinated, managers shared their own positive experiences, and the workplace ran on a shared assumption that a mandate was coming. That combination was enough for a tribunal to tie an off-duty medical decision back to the job. Employers who pushed staff toward vaccination during the pandemic - through messaging, peer influence, or an expectation that a mandate was inevitable - may find those efforts weigh more heavily than they intended.
