WorkCover Queensland must indemnify a man injured while repairing a tractor after an appeals court found he was employed by a family company even though there was no written employment contract.

The court upheld a decision by Queensland Supreme Court, which considered employment relationships in the context of three interrelated family cane cutting businesses.

In October 2025, the Supreme Court awarded Carlo Germanotta $1.29 million in damages and costs against CRG Harvesting, and said WorkCover should indemnify CRG.

WorkCover had declined to cover CRG, saying Mr Germanotta was not a worker under the state’s Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act when he was injured.

Mr Germanotta and his wife Lisa each half-owned a trust that held their family sugar cane farm in Sarina, Queensland.

Some farm equipment was held in a partnership between the couple and Mr Germanotta’s brother Renato, and CRG was a third entity that conducted cane harvesting and was owned by the two brothers and their families.

In 2018, Mr Germanotta was hurt while repairing a tractor owned by the partnership but used by CRG.

The Court of Appeal notes Mr Germanotta had no written employment contract with CRG but it paid him a fixed amount each week over the whole year, even though cane cutting is seasonal.

CRG made superannuation payments for him, deducted income tax and maintained payroll records listing Mr Germanotta and Renato as salary earners.

WorkCover said Mr Germanotta was working on the tractor on behalf of the partnership of which he was a member, and which owned the tractor.

CRG argued Mr Germanotta was its employee, and the appeals court finds he was not a director of CRG, with Renato making the operational and business decisions and their two wives handling all financial matters.

Read the judgment here.