I Had An Injury At Work, What Are My Rights?
If you had an injury at work and want to know ‘what are my rights?’ read on to see how No Win No Fee Solicitors Co could help you.
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I Had An Injury At Work, What Are My Rights?
If you had an injury at work and want to know ‘what are my rights?’ read on to see how No Win No Fee Solicitors Co could help you.
This guide will help you learn more about your rights after an accident at work.
After suffering an injury that you feel was caused by employer negligence, you may be considering seeking compensation. To have a better idea of how to do this, we will explain the key concerns you might have about starting a case against your employer.
Firstly, we explain if you can lose your job by seeking compensation. Then we look at your entitlement to sick pay. In the next sections, we explain exactly who is eligible to seek personal injury compensation based on the health and safety laws in the UK. In addition to this, we also address any concerns you may have about the cost of starting a claim before closing the guide with more links and resources to help.
At JF Law, our personal injury solicitors can help you assert you rights and get the compensation you deserve.
You can speak with us now by:
- Calling us free 24/7 on 0151 375 9916
- Contact us online.
- Request a callback.
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What Are My Rights After A Workplace Injury?
After a workplace injury, it is important to alert your employer to the accident and seek immediate medical treatment as required. You have a right to receive medical treatment, and a right to report and record the injury and incident in the work accident book.
This is not just to help you, but to prevent others from experiencing injury. It also means a formal record of the accident is made in the workplace accident book that all places with more than 10 employees is required by law to retain.
If you are able at the time, it is important to also think about potential evidence. For example, you or a friend/colleague can take photos of the site where the injury occurred. As well as pictures of your visible injuries themselves. It may be the case that others saw the accident, so it helps to get their contact details. This is so that a solicitor can gather a supporting statement from them at a later date to help support your claim.
Can I Be Sacked For Suffering An Injury At Work?
You cannot be dismissed or sacked by your employer if you suffered an injury at work, unless you were wholly responsible for the injury and caused harm to others. This could be deemed gross negligence.
If your employer dismisses you for the mere act of getting injured, for example, slipping over on spilled liquid on the shop floor, they could expose themselves to a claim under employment law.
Can I Be Sacked For Making An Accident At Work Claim?
In most cases, your employer is not legally allowed to dismiss you for seeking compensation after a workplace injury. If they do dismiss you, it’s possible to launch a further claim against them for unfair dismissal.
However, you might face disciplinary proceedings if the accident was the result of your own deliberate conduct or negligence. This could lead to dismissal if you were to be grossly negligent.
You may still have grounds to start a personal injury compensation claim if you were partly to blame. This is known as ‘contributory negligence’. If you are deemed to have been partially responsible, you could still receive a reduced percentage of the total compensation amount owed.
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Do My Injury At Work Rights Involve Receiving Sick Pay?
Not everyone receives sick pay from their employer. It all comes down to the nature of your employment contract.
The amount you receive will be stated in your contract, so it’s important to check it. However, it is not a legal obligation for employers.
If you do not get sick pay, you have a legal right to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from your employer. This is a fixed rate and can only be relied upon after a set number of days of absence.
Can I Claim Compensation After A Workplace Accident?
If you’ve been injured at work, you also have a legal right to claim compensation.
In order to start a compensation claim for personal injury, it’s necessary to show that a breach in your employer’s duty of care caused the injury.
Your employer’s duty of care is outlined in legislation called the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HASAWA). This Act requires employers to take reasonable and practicable steps to prevent employees from experiencing harm as they perform their jobs. This can be achieved through a number of actions, such as:
- Carrying out regular assessments of risk on the workplace premises.
- Ensuring that all staff are correctly trained and supervised as required.
- Properly maintain all machinery and equipment so that they are safe for use.
- Also providing essential personal protective equipment (PPE) as required in places like a warehouse or a factory.
By meeting these health and safety obligations, an employer can limit the risk of harm and better control any unavoidable hazards. However, all accidents in the workplace are not automatically the fault of the employer. So three eligibility criteria must be met to move forward with a personal injury claim:
- A duty of care applied to you at the moment of injury.
- You can show your employer failed to meet this obligation in some way.
- This caused an accident in which you suffered physical and/or psychological injury.
What Is The Time Limit When Claiming For A Workplace Accident?
The Limitation Act 1980 states that there is usually a three-year time limit for making a compensation claim for personal injury. There can be variations to this, for example:
- Claimants under the age of 18 can benefit from a paused limitation period. The three-year period can start from the date of their 18th birthday instead.
- People who lack the mental capacity to start a claim for themselves have a completely frozen time limit. It may re-commence from the date that mental capacity returns.
- In both cases described above, the claimant can have a litigation friend appointed to start a claim on their behalf. This is a trusted party who undertakes all aspects of the claim for them.
How Much Will It Cost To Claim For An Accident At Work?
The concern of legal costs can often prevent people from making an accident at work claim with a solicitor. To provide a possible solution to this, our solicitors are able to offer excellent representation on a No Win No Fee basis. Their services include:
- Help with collecting evidence to build your case and gather witness statements.
- Accurately calculating the value of your claim.
- Sending and receiving important documents on time.
- Professionally presenting your case at all times.
This also means that no upfront fees need to be paid to instruct a solicitor. In addition to this, no fees apply for their ongoing services. Claims with an unsuccessful outcome require no fees at all for completed services.
In the event of a successful claim outcome, a success fee is payable. The fee is a percentage of the compensation award you receive. The percentage is also capped by law to ensure that you always benefit the most from the outcome.
If you’d like to learn more about your injury at work rights, and how our accident at work solicitors could help you, simply:
- Call us free 24/7 on 0151 375 9916
- Contact us online.
- Request a callback.
Read More About Your Injury At Work Rights
Below, you can learn more about your rights after an injury at work:
- Head here to learn how to claim for a slip, trip or fall in the workplace or other workplace injuries.
- More information on how long after an accident you can claim can be found here
- Also, further guidance on what to do after an accident at work can be found here
- Read advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau after a workplace accident.
- Information on expenses and benefits compensation after workplace accidents from GOV.UK.
- Lastly, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) looks at preventing slips and trips in the workplace.
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