Kam Bains, HR Consultant at Higgs and Sons Solicitors responds to an Any Answers posting regarding compensation for a fall at work.
The question:
An employee tripped and fell at work and hurt his back.
He tripped on a small tear in an anti-static mat. He saw a first aider and was taken home as he was in a lot of pain from twisting his back.
We do carry out regular risk assessments on all areas of the factory and this had not been noticed. No-one in the working area had noticed and reported a problem either.
He has since been off for seven and a half weeks (excluding two days when he returned to work after a couple of weeks and then went off again).
Under our Absence Management policy, we do not pay for the first day of sickness absence however, we agreed we would on this occasion as it was following an accident at work.
For his length of service, we pay up to four weeks full pay … we have paid him 5.5 weeks as a goodwill gesture before reducing him to SSP for the remainder of his absence.
He has come back to work today and asked how we will compensate him. He is unhappy at being on SSP and wants to reclaim £450 odd which he’s paid in prescriptions and ostepath’s fees. We are reluctant to do this and have explained that we offer free healthcare to all employees every year and to date, he has declined cover due to the tax and NI implications (it’s a benefit in kind).
I have spoken to ACAS and they say we are under no obligation to consider his request and that if he wants to pursue a claim, he should do so through the legal route and would have to prove negligence etc.
I would like to hear what your opinions are as to how we should handle this and whether you would consider compensation.
Alison Gray
Member’s response:
There are no statutory provisions that entitle an employee injured at the workplace to be paid their normal wages during any consequential period of absence or to be reimbursed for any consequential medical expenses.
Such entitlements would only arise if the contract of employment provided for them. If your employment terms only provide for the payment of SSP for sickness absence, then that is all you are obliged to pay, irrespective of the cause of the sickness absence.
The employee may be able to recover damages in respect of his injuries and financial losses through pursuing a personal injury claim, if he can establish that the accident was as a result of the company’s negligence and/or breach of health and safety obligations. However, assuming you have employee liability insurance in place, such a claim would be handled by your insurers.
You should be mindful of the fact that the company’s defence to a personal injury claim could be potentially prejudiced by voluntarily paying him the sums he is seeking. This may also potentially prejudice the terms of your employee liability insurance policy. I would recommend that, if you have not done so already, you should immediately advise your insurers of the matter and only make any compensatory payments to the employee if the insurers are happy for you to do so.
