Work Injury and Sick Pay

mikep72

I recently had an injury at work, I have now been on sick leave for 13 weeks. Even if my accident was reported to the HSE via Riddor, can my employer stop paying me after 16 weeks. I am due for surgery this week and am unable to go back to work because of injury. The accident was not my fault. They accident was due to faulty equipment. Any advice would be appreciated.

paddedjohn

You are entitled to ssp for upto 28 weeks, if you are still off sick after that time then you may be eligible for esa. Are you claiming compensation from your employer?

Heidistar

Hi Mike,

I'm sorry to hear you have been seriously injured at work. You are entitled to sick pay in accordance with your contract with your employer. You may also be entitled to SSP as well or instead if they are not paying you.

I'm a personal injury lawyer dealing with employer liability claims. If you have sustained an injury at work due to faulty equipment, negligence or both, you should be entitled to compensation. I note that you need to have an operation and it therefore sounds as if it quite serious injury.

You should ensure that you keep a note of your symptoms for however long they last, receipts for anything you pay for and a note of any time spent by someone else helping you (paid or unpaid) doing things you would usually do for yourself. Also keep your payslips from both before and after the accident.

I'm not on here to tout for business, so I would advise you to contact a local firm of solicitors who offer personal injury advice. I would not recommend that you phone a claims company, you could end up with someone who is not qualified handling your claim. Since April 2013, most firms will now make a charge of up to 25% of your compensation if you win, but will not charge you if unsuccessful. This is due to changes in the law and it is now rare to find someone good who will give you 100% compensation.

Unfortunately, it is a slow process to obtain compensation, around 9 months if liability is admitted but much longer if it is denied. It sounds as if you would have a strong case so hopefully your employer's insurer would admit liability.

Hope that helps and good luck with your operation.

Heidi

mikep72

Hi, Heidi. Thanks for the advice.

How long can they keep giving me full sick pay?

paddedjohn

What does your contract say about sick pay? if you aren't entitled to company sick pay then you are only entitled to ssp for upto 28 weeks.

Takeaway_Addict

They can stop paying after the contractual agreement as they can treat the sick pay and the reason for it separately.

It maybe worth the company carrying on paying you if they admit liability as it would reduce compensation in the long term but if they are happy for the insurance to pick the tab up they may refuse to pay more than they have to.

Bigmoney2

If you are in a union, then contact them, they may take on a case for you.

*Scarlett

Or check your home insurance policy - you may have a legal expenses policy which will cover personal injury claims