Ill-health severance following suspect reocurring injury.

Roland109

Hi,

I'm currently on sick leave from work on the instruction of my employer's OH following a sprained and fractured ankle following an accident at work. I'm in my 30s and have approx 6 years service.

I will undertake a telephone interview with OH next week to discuss my eligibility to return to work.

My GP has declared me fit for work as my ankle has already done 'all the healing it can' but he said the pain I am still feeling is likely to remain for the rest of my life which will have an affect on my day to day activities. He has left it to OH to assess whether this will affect my work duties.

I would like to know what to expect if OH decide I am not fit to resume my duties and if I would be entitled to compensation as a result of my injury.

There are a few things that complicate the issue.

1. This is the 3rd time I have sprained my ankle at work. The first-time was approximately 4 years ago and the second time was about 4 months after that. While it was likely thay the second sprain occurred as a direct result of the first, my GP said it is 'impossible to link my most recent sprain with the older ones'.

2. When my ankle was x-rayd they found bone fragments left behind from a previously undiagnosed ankle fracture. This is likely (but not definately) to be the result of my previous 2 ankle sprains. The GP at the time hadnt recommended an x-ray. I didn't take any sick leave following the 2nd sprain at the request of my manager who wanted to avoid a 'lost time incident'.

3. My current manager also tried to avoid a 'lost time incident' by arranging for me to undertake light duties. I remained in work for approx 2 weeks until the x-ray revealed the fracture(s) and have been on sick leave since. I feel confident in saying that on each occassion my injury was played down and that I was encouraged to remain in work despite my injuries.

sangie595

If you are unable to undertake your duties, then your employer may dismiss you on capability grounds.

Why would you think that you would be entitled to compensation? You sprained your ankle. That isn't a huge issue, and your GP had told you that there is no medical evidence that suggests the original sprain has anything to do with the subsequent ones.

You have a guess there had been an undiagnosed fracture which might have occurred at the time of the "sprain"; but also may not have done and nobody can prove it now. How is the employer responsible for your not have an x ray or a misdiagnosis by the doctor?

And regardless of what your manager wanted, if you had felt that you were unfit for work, you should have said so and not gone to work. You volunteered to work, so that isn't the employers fault.

It is actually very good employment practice for an employer to look at making adjustments to support workers so that they don't have to take sick leave. So your employer has actually been following all the guidance recommended to employers. They had no reason to believe you couldn't do light duties, and this was done with your agreement.

Depending on your job, obviously, but I see no reason why you would think that the possibility of continuing pain (and I might wonder how much confidence to place in the opinion of doctors who missed all this in the first place) would make you unfit for work, possibly with some adjustments. But the likelihood is that this is not going to count as a disability - simply having some pain does not constitute a disability. However, and based on personal experience, you might question your GP as to why he is diagnosing in this way when, really, it is the job of an experienced orthopaedic consultant to look at the options - of which there are actually many. There is no reason to accept that there is nothing that can be done.

ohreally

Roland109 wrote: »

3. My current manager also tried to avoid a 'lost time incident' by arranging for me to undertake light duties. I remained in work for approx 2 weeks until the x-ray revealed the fracture(s) and have been on sick leave since. I feel confident in saying that on each occassion my injury was played down and that I was encouraged to remain in work despite my injuries.

Without more details, this would likely be RIDDOR reportable...

"Over-seven-day incapacitation of a worker

Accidents must be reported where they result in an employee or self-employed person being away from work, or unable to perform their normal work duties, for more than seven consecutive days as the result of their injury".

http://www.hse.gov.uk/riddor/reportable-incidents.htm

Moving an individual onto light duties in an attempt to avoid legitimate reporting needs dealing with.

Roland109

Thank you for your replies. Regarding the compensation, the accident occurred as a result of a typical hazard in my work place environment. It is impossible to remove the hazard so we have control measures to manage it. In this case, a particular control measure was neglected by management and this was noted on the accident report.

You have confirmed my own concerns regarding the lack of evidence linking my previous fracture to the injury I sustained at work a few years back.
But by the same principle, does it mean OH would be at a stretch to link my current injury to the previous ones for purposes of declaring me unfit for work?

Regarding RIDDOR, you are correct, in fact my employer regards any incident at work which results in lost time as reportable, even for one day. I was told this process would have negative repurcussions on me personally and so it was in my best interest to attend work even though I could barely walk. The reason why I did not attend an x-ray after the first 2 incidents was because I would have had to take time off to do so.

In retrospect, I feel that I was bullied by my manager into not taking sick leave and thus neglected an injury which has gone undiagnosed and has now become worse, and that I may now lose my job because of it. I want to keep my job, but under the circumstances if I lose it I want compensation to cover my loss.