Can I sue?

splat997

due to an accident several years ago i now have severe problems working with my hands and certain activitys can cause damage and further injury resulting in operations etc .. i have been placed into the work related activity group and now on the enable phase where i believe they can force you to do voluntary work .. if i was placed on one of theses voluntary placements and had an accident causing further damage to my hands would i be able to sue for damages and if so who would i sue .. the private sector or the job placement?

kezzygirl

i think the main poin here is 'IF' you have an accident

geri1965_2

You'd have to sue the job placement, as your previous accident is probably out of time now. In any event you sue the organisation whose negligence leads to the injury.

BrettMorganxD

Could you not appeal, to be put into the support group?

bestpud

Be positive! You may find you have no problems and are more capable than you think.

skintandscared_2

bestpud wrote: »

Be positive! You may find you have no problems and are more capable than you think.

Totally agree!! Why are you already planning who you can sue for something that hasn't even happened??! Unless, of course, you are determined to do whatever it takes to stay on benefits and not work (which obviously nobody would ever really want to do, would they)

Sarah69

I can't see how they can 'force' you into voluntary work! I have been on ESA for just over a year and only been to 1 work related interview, where I explained that I'm unable to work due to undiagnosed chronic pain and that I have a job to return to when I'm able to. I've never been told I have to do voluntary work.

[Deleted User]

Maybe look for work that involves little use of hands? For example call centre? You can obviously type? X

HappyMJ

Deleted_User wrote: »

Maybe look for work that involves little use of hands? For example call centre? You can obviously type? X

I would not recommend extensive typing with a hand injury. Keying a few bits of information here and there is ok but certainly not call centre work with a headset on and touch typing. Far too painful or potential for further injury.

somethingcorporate

This must be a windup!

Lining up people to sue for something that has not even happened!

rogerblack

The prospect of poorly defined 'work related activity' without many of the usual employment protections is scary to many.
You can be basically required to undertake anything that is not:
Applying for work.
Doing work.
Getting medical treatment.

You can ask that work programme activities are reconsidered by the DWP if they are not suitable, but there is no right of appeal to this decision.

The problem many of us face is that the people deciding on our requests that this is not reasonable are both minimally trained in our illnesses, and basing their decisions off what may be a 5 or 10 word segment of a report done by someone that sees us once, and also may not be an expert in our conditions.

Taking me, for an example.
I'm in the WRAG - with an income so generous i'm sitting here under a blanket with the temperature in the lounge at 8C.
I've got chronic fatigue syndrome.

The activities of daily life tire me.
On most days, I barely have enough energy to do the washing up, take a shower, cook a meal.
Going out to the supermarket for a couple of hours when I was feeling good last year ended up with me being taken home in the back of a police van, and an ambulance called, as I was thought to be on drugs.

After this, for about a week, I was so tired and shaky, that I just lay in bed dozing, though after a day, I was able to get crackers to eat. I diddn't recover to the point of my normal struggle with completing household tasks for about a couple of weeks.

The prospect of being asked to do 'reasonable' work-related activity - say an hour a day at the local jobcentre (which means a 3 hour round trip by bus) - which will almost certainly over the course of several days cause a similar relapse - is terrifying.

But this could quite easily be seen as reasonable by someone who relies on my medical report, and considers how easy it would be for them to get to the jobcentre and sit around for an hour making paper doilies.

If I was fit at the moment, I would hope to be bringing in >50K, as an electronic design engineer.
I've been trying to keep up with the field, and keep my skills current, but this is hard when I have only a few hours a week when I feel mentally like my head isn't packed full of cotton wool, and I have to choose between doing this, or taking a shower.