This question is part of an investigation as to whether the condition claimed by the client has arisen out of, or in the course of, employment and is therefore compensable under the SRC Act.
In particular, the question is testing whether s 6(1) of the Act applies; this section deems an injury to be work-caused if it is sustained at certain identified places (ie. work, a place of education) or while the client is travelling between certain identified places (a “travel claim”).
Section 6(1)(b)(i) requires an injury to be treated as having arisen out of, or in the course of, employment if it is sustained while the client is temporarily absent from their place of work during an ordinary recess. The actual form of the provision is:
6(1)Without limiting the circumstances in which an injury to an employee may be treated as having arisen out of, or in the course of, his or her employment, an injury shall, for the purposes of this Act, be treated as having so arisen if it was sustained:
...
(b)while the employee:
(i)was at his or her place of work, for the purposes of that employment, or was temporarily absent from that place during an ordinary recess in that employment;
Whether a client is injured during an ordinary recess is also relevant to the operation of s 6(3)(b), which provides that s 6(1) does not apply where a client sustains an injury during an ordinary recess because he or she voluntarily and unreasonably submitted to an abnormal risk of injury.