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An employee who was allegedly accused of having a "dry face", being unengaging and lacking charm has won compensation for a psychological injury, after a tribunal rejected her employer's "reasonable counselling action" defence.

The interpreter for Translation and Interpreting Services – a division of the Department of Home Affairs – appealed Comcare's decision to deny liability for her "psychological injury, PTSD trauma and excessive stress".

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal heard the employee's application related to incidents during two deployments to Nauru, in October 2016 and November 2017.

According to the employee, during the 2016 deployment her interpreter liaison officer (ILO) started bullying and micromanaging her after she questioned her rostered timetable...