If you have been injured at work and are considering making a personal injury you may be concerned about the effect on your relationship with your employer, or even that you may jeopardise your position. Concerns like these are understandable and fairly common, especially where workers are unfamiliar with how the civil claims system works in the UK.
Legally, you cannot be dismissed or discriminated against simply for making a personal injury claim. Your employer faces further culpability if they take disciplinary action against you or terminate your employment simply because you make an honest claim for personal injury.
Equally, if an employer were to make an employee’s working life unbearable after he or she submitted a personal injury claim, leading to them handing in their notice, there would be a potential case for constructive dismissal.
Instances of conduct like this are rare, and there is legislation in place to protect you. You would, in reality, be doing the right thing in reporting your accident and formally submitting a claim, both for yourself and for your employer in helping prevent similar accidents happening in the future.
In the first instance, your claim will usually be submitted to your employer’s liability insurer. Dealing with claims is exactly the reason that companies have policies of liability insurance, and they will follow established procedures in properly investigating any claim.
Acas, recognized as Britain’s leading impartial authority on workplace relationships, say:
“Legally, employers must abide by relevant health & safety and employment law, as well as the common law duty of care. They also have a moral and ethical duty not to cause, or fail to prevent, physical or psychological injury, and must fulfil their responsibilities with regard to personal injury and negligence claims.”
Our solicitors have years of experience in assisting workers get the compensation and support they deserve after an accident at work. We offer to deal with claims on a No Win, No Fee basis, and we only recover legal costs if we are successful. Call us on 0808 256 5184 to speak to one of our helpful team or get in touch online.
