Absent employee rights

heather · PayPerShop Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 4

Hi

I'm hoping that someone will be able to offer me a little bit of advice. I joined my current employer in may 2007 and a couple of weeks ago I had an accident at work when my chair broke and I damaged my back. I have since been unable to attend work due to the pain. I was wondering where I would stand if my employer refused to give me a phased return to work or just dismissed me because of this incident? I have little knowledge of this area and any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Ian Whyteside · Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:01 am Post subject: Absent Employee Rights

Good morning Heather, I am sure Ian Congreave will welcome you personally to his forum but in the meantime you will have to put up with my meagre offerings.

I hope you are not too unwell this morning.

You have an interesting situation where normally you would not expect there to be a lot on offer by way of sick leave, medical assistance and return to work process. These tend to come with service and, as you point out, you have not worked for the employer for very long.

The difference, for me, is that you are off work because of a faulty chair at work, an industrial injury if you like. This ought to change things dramatically but only if you can produce evidence that it took place.

It may be that your employer will want to terminate employment and leave the matter to his insurance company, or they may do everything possible to help you get back to work, this depends on the terms and conditions of employment and their past practices. There may be lots of best practice on the subject of absence but that does not mean your employer follows them!

What are the terms and conditions of employment? Has anyone completed an accident report, have you done so and reported the incident formally? Has it been investigated and where is the chair now?

Were there witnesses and will they be prepared to come forward?

You have not said much about contact since you went off work, has your employer been in touch and what have they said? Has some one come to see you, say from a safety point of view.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 makes it clear that terms and conditions of service, which ought to be supplied to you within two months of you starting must include details of the rules governing incapacity to work because of illness or injury and the provision for sick pay. You are entitled to statutory sick pay as a matter of course, but there is no law which says you must have occupational sickness allowances.

There is a duty of care which an employers has towards his employees and one of those is to make sure the working environment is as safe and healthy as can be achieved under normal circumstances. Those circumstances are determined by a risk assessment and safety audit. The trouble with these is that us office workers are not seen as a priority and society tends to regard us as being too cosseted. As a result such safety considerations are often quite superficial, if they happen at all!

The real question, Heather, is whether your employers actions turn out to be reasonable under the circumstances and much of this will be common sense and down to your own judgement. If at the end you feel you have been treated fairly then the chances are that you have and I think you will soon know if you haven't.

I would expect them to make some effort in your case given that it was their chair which was at fault. I would expect you to be paid, for a period and that they should attempt to rehabilitate you properly based on the assessment of a specialist and to compensate you for the pain, inconvenience and any treatment needed. Regrettably the law does not specify any of this and in any case your lack of service creates a problem with it all.

Good luck with this.

Ian Congreave

Wecome to the Forum Heather, I hope Ian's response has helped. Your situation is always a problem and, of course, of particular concern to you in terms of job security.
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Ian Congreave, PayPerShop owner

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heather · PayPerShop Newbie Joined: 19 Aug 2007 Posts: 4

Hi

thankyou so much for your help. the chair is back in use and they have not performed any risk assessments at all. I'm grateful for your advice and this has made the situation much clearer for me.

thanks again