In a 2020 decision of the Federal Court of Australia it was judicially held that Australian employees have a workplace right to toilet breaks and to “drink water” as fundamental work safety rights.
That this decision was even required is astonishing.
Justice Logan stated, ”There is not much point in imposing a statutory duty on an employer to provide, materially, toilets or drinking water if an employee cannot access the same…Denial of access as needed to toilet facilities or drinking water could, as a matter of ordinary life experience, have adverse health and safety ramifications for an employee and thus enliven the primary statutory duty of an employer found in s 19 of the WHS Act”
*Retail and Fast Food Workers Union Incorporated v Tantex Holdings Pty Ltd [2020] FCA 1258, an Australian court (per Logan J)