Woolworths has been ordered to compensate a staffer at its Kiama store after the woman's eye was "severely injured" by a vicious swooping bird known to guard the entryway to the shopping complex.

Anita Smith was almost inside the Kiama Village Shopping Centre when the bird, a native peewee, set her in its sights on May 14.

The worker was severely injured by a swooping peewee.

She required surgery in mid-July to repair the resulting injury, described in a compensation claim as an "inturned central part of the right eye flap".

Ms Smith, a customer service officer for the supermarket since 2010, was among at least 10 people who required medical attention as a result of the bird's attacks, according to an area ophthalmologist interviewed by Fairfax at the time.