Australia's highest court has upheld a A$471,000 compensation payout to a pastry cook who cut her little finger while reassembling a doughnut machine, court officials said Friday.
Robyn Vanessa Laybutt was employed at a Sydney factory in 1999 when her supervisor asked her to put the doughnut machine back together after it had been washed.
Laybutt said she did not know how to reassemble it, but instead of being given a demonstration or an instruction manual she was told to "just give it a go."
She sliced her right little finger as a result of handling slippery cylinders from the machine without gloves.
Thursday, Australia's High Court unanimously ruled that Sydney company Glover Gibbs had negligently caused her injury by rejecting her request for instructions.
Laybutt had won the A$471,000 compensation payout in a New South Wales state district court but her former employer appealed that decision, saying she should have specified what instructions she needed to complete the task.
The matter was then referred to the High Court, which upheld the earlier ruling to end a six-year legal battle.
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