Accident at work - what are my rights

JBEAN

Hi everyone...my brother is 53 and has worked for his boss for approximately 3 years.  The firm is a limited company, and my brother is the only employee.

Last week, my brother was attending a job on his own (clearing a drain at height).  His ladder was leaning against his van, and the top of it was against a gutter.  Because of the nature of the job, there was a lot of grease on the floor and at height, and when met brother was above van night, the ladder slipped and he fell.  

he managed to get someone to take him to A&E, where he had a CT Scan and was diagnosed with broken ribs, a minor bleed internally and a tear in his lung.  He came home with lots of meds and advised that he couldn't work for 3 weeks.

when he told his boss what had happened, he was told that he wouldn't be paid for 3 weeks.  he was then sent a list of Health and Safety courses his boss said he should attend.

Is it wrong to think that his Boss should pay him for this time?  he is clearly in a lot of pain and if he could he would definitely work as he is in great need of money, has no savings and is worried about paying his rent at the end of the month.

He has no official terms of employment etc....does he have any rights or is his boss being fair?

MattMattMattUK

JBEAN said:

Hi everyone...my brother is 53 and has worked for his boss for approximately 3 years.  The firm is a limited company, and my brother is the only employee.

Last week, my brother was attending a job on his own (clearing a drain at height).  His ladder was leaning against his van, and the top of it was against a gutter.  Because of the nature of the job, there was a lot of grease on the floor and at height, and when met brother was above van night, the ladder slipped and he fell.  

he managed to get someone to take him to A&E, where he had a CT Scan and was diagnosed with broken ribs, a minor bleed internally and a tear in his lung.  He came home with lots of meds and advised that he couldn't work for 3 weeks.

when he told his boss what had happened, he was told that he wouldn't be paid for 3 weeks.  he was then sent a list of Health and Safety courses his boss said he should attend.

Is it wrong to think that his Boss should pay him for this time?  he is clearly in a lot of pain and if he could he would definitely work as he is in great need of money, has no savings and is worried about paying his rent at the end of the month.

He has no official terms of employment etc....does he have any rights or is his boss being fair?

Whether he should be paid depends on his contract, it depends if he is PAYE or a contractor, it depends on whether he had previously had training for working safely at height and other health and safety related issues. 

I would recommend that he gets his facts together, then speaks to Citizens Advice. 

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/safety-at-work/accidents-at-work/

Grumpy_chap

JBEAN said:

Hi everyone...my brother is 53 and has worked for his boss for approximately 3 years.  The firm is a limited company, and my brother is the only employee.

Last week, my brother was attending a job on his own (clearing a drain at height).  His ladder was leaning against his van, and the top of it was against a gutter.  Because of the nature of the job, there was a lot of grease on the floor and at height, and when met brother was above van night, the ladder slipped and he fell.  

he managed to get someone to take him to A&E, where he had a CT Scan and was diagnosed with broken ribs, a minor bleed internally and a tear in his lung.  He came home with lots of meds and advised that he couldn't work for 3 weeks.

when he told his boss what had happened, he was told that he wouldn't be paid for 3 weeks.  he was then sent a list of Health and Safety courses his boss said he should attend.

Is it wrong to think that his Boss should pay him for this time?  he is clearly in a lot of pain and if he could he would definitely work as he is in great need of money, has no savings and is worried about paying his rent at the end of the month.

He has no official terms of employment etc....does he have any rights or is his boss being fair?

His boss probably is not being fair.

Is your brother a PAYE employee, or self employed sub contractor?

Was your brother working to the agreed RAMS for the task?

Undervalued

JBEAN said:

Hi everyone...my brother is 53 and has worked for his boss for approximately 3 years.  The firm is a limited company, and my brother is the only employee.

Last week, my brother was attending a job on his own (clearing a drain at height).  His ladder was leaning against his van, and the top of it was against a gutter.  Because of the nature of the job, there was a lot of grease on the floor and at height, and when met brother was above van night, the ladder slipped and he fell.  

he managed to get someone to take him to A&E, where he had a CT Scan and was diagnosed with broken ribs, a minor bleed internally and a tear in his lung.  He came home with lots of meds and advised that he couldn't work for 3 weeks.

when he told his boss what had happened, he was told that he wouldn't be paid for 3 weeks.  he was then sent a list of Health and Safety courses his boss said he should attend.

Is it wrong to think that his Boss should pay him for this time?  he is clearly in a lot of pain and if he could he would definitely work as he is in great need of money, has no savings and is worried about paying his rent at the end of the month.

He has no official terms of employment etc....does he have any rights or is his boss being fair?

Just because the accident happened whilst working doesn't, in itself, mean the employer is responsible.

If they are legally responsible in any way, e.g inadequate training, defective equipment, unreasonable pressure to do the job despite it not being safe etc etc then he may be entitled to compensation. That would generally include any loss of earnings that result from being off sick etc.

If however they are not legally responsible because, for example, despite reasonable training and equipment your brother didn't take reasonable care then his normal sick leave entitlements (if any) would apply.

In most respects all of the above is a separate issue to whether he is being employed correctly for tax purposes etc.

 

RogerPensionGuy

Leaning a ladder against a van. 

Leaning a ladder against a gutter?

The floor was slippy?

It all sounds very very unsafe to me, hopefully his union, citizens advice or a solicitor will advise best actions. 

Tabieth

Has the accident been reported? It’s RIDDOR reportable so it should have been.

And yes, as others have said he should speak with citizens advice or, if he’s a member, a union. 

EnPointe

JBEAN said:

Hi everyone...my brother is 53 and has worked for his boss for approximately 3 years.  The firm is a limited company, and my brother is the only employee.

Last week, my brother was attending a job on his own (clearing a drain at height).  His ladder was leaning against his van, and the top of it was against a gutter.  Because of the nature of the job, there was a lot of grease on the floor and at height, and when met brother was above van night, the ladder slipped and he fell.  

he managed to get someone to take him to A&E, where he had a CT Scan and was diagnosed with broken ribs, a minor bleed internally and a tear in his lung.  He came home with lots of meds and advised that he couldn't work for 3 weeks.

when he told his boss what had happened, he was told that he wouldn't be paid for 3 weeks.  he was then sent a list of Health and Safety courses his boss said he should attend.

Is it wrong to think that his Boss should pay him for this time?  he is clearly in a lot of pain and if he could he would definitely work as he is in great need of money, has no savings and is worried about paying his rent at the end of the month.

He has no official terms of employment etc....does he have any rights or is his boss being fair?

was the OPs ' brother' working in accordance with the  agreed  SWP ( safe working practices) and SOP ( standard operational Procedure)  for working at height ? 

if they exist and he wasn't following  he could be looking at a Gross Misconduct Dismissal 

pay in this situation   SSP most likely  unless he can demonstrate that despite following SWP and SOP   the  incident occured  asa result  of inadequate  training  or  equipment fault / failure 

kinger101

RogerPensionGuy said:

Leaning a ladder against a van. 

Leaning a ladder against a gutter?

The floor was slippy?

It all sounds very very unsafe to me, hopefully his union, citizens advice or a solicitor will advise best actions. 

If course, there may have been a perfectly adequate RAMS in place and the employee acted outside of that   in which case, I'd expect to be fired.

Marcon

https://www.legalexpert.co.uk/accident-at-work-claims/ladder-accident/