Vodafone ordered to pay $1 million after worker burned in customer attack
Vodafone ordered to pay $1 million after a customer attacked a worker with flaming deodorant.
Damir Lepan won a $1 million award from Vodafone in NSW District Court. A customer attacked him at a Campbelltown store in November 2019.
The customer sprayed him with deodorant and set it on fire. Mr Lepan had refused to swap a SIM card on a fraudulent account.
The customer left and returned an hour later, apparently drug-affected, and attacked him. Mr Lepan was singed and suffered severe psychological injuries.
These included nightmares and fears of public violence. The court heard the Campbelltown store had logged numerous threats on a staff portal.
Management told staff to slow down reporting them. Judge William Fitzsimmons found Vodafone knew the risks and failed to place a security guard.
A guard could have stopped the attacker from re-entering.
- $1 million
- Court award
- November 22, 2019
- Attack date
- Campbelltown store in Macarthur Square
- Location
- One online session
- Training offered
Why it mattersThe ruling establishes that employers must protect retail workers from foreseeable customer violence and cannot ignore repeated threats or downplay complaints about staff safety.
AustraliaAustralian retail and hospitality workers may see stronger protections from customer violence following this precedent. Employers could face liability if they ignore patterns of threats.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 10 d ago
