What Can You Do If Your Employer Does No Pay You After A Accident at work? – View Online Guide

Accident At Work Claims Advice
Accident At Work Claims Advice

If you are injured at work, you may have to take time off to recover and this can put you in a difficult financial situation. Whether you are unable to bring in a normal wage for a short period of time or much longer, you may wonder what you could be entitled to receive in the way of pay during the time it takes you to recover from the workplace injuries you sustained. Providing you followed the required steps after an accident at work that left you injured, you could be entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay – SSP – and you could seek compensation by filing an accident at work claim against your employer.

To find out more on whether you would still get paid if injured at work, and what evidence you would need to provide in support of a personal injury claim against your employer, please read on.

What Steps Should I Follow After a Workplace Accident?

The first thing to do when injured in a workplace accident, is to seek medical attention even if you believe the injuries you sustained are only minor. The reason being that slight injury may turn into something a lot more serious as days go by. Even if you are not considering filing an accident at work claim, you must still follow the procedure as set out by an employer after a workplace incident that leaves you injured.

The steps that you must follow following an accident in the workplace would include the following:

  • As soon as you can, you must report the incident to your employer or the person in charge of your work environment
  • If there is a workplace Accident Book, make sure the record of the incident has been correctly noted and that all the details regarding your injuries have been correctly recorded. If you find there is no Accident Book at the place where you work, you can do one of two things which is to either send your employer a personal email or a registered letter that provides details of the workplace accident and the injuries you suffered. It is important that you keep a copy of the letter for your own records
  • Should you not be able to report the workplace accident yourself, you can ask a trusted colleague to do this for you
  • Get written statements from any witnesses remembering to get their contact details as well
  • Take photos of where the workplace accident in which you suffered injuries happened. If there is CCTV footage, ask your employer for a copy which they must give to you in a timely fashion
  • Take photos of the injuries you suffered and ideally these should be taken prior to having received any treatment
  • Check to see if the incident and your injuries are reportable to the RIDDOR. It is your employer’s responsibility to report specific incidents, injuries and workplace diseases but you have the right to check that they did
  • Contact a personal injury solicitor who would provide essential legal advice on whether you could pursue a claim for accident at work compensation against your employer

The more evidence you can show that your employer could be held liable for the injuries you sustained in a workplace accident, the stronger your claim against them would be. It also strengthens the chances that you would receive any benefits you could be entitled to which includes Statutory Sick Pay and other sick pay as written into your employment contract

What is My Employer’s Duty of Care in the Workplace?

Your employer is legally bound to respect your worker’s rights and they must protect you in the workplace from being harmed or injured. Employers in the United Kingdom have a “duty of care” towards employees and other workers. As such, your employer must ensure that a work environment is safe, that it is kept clean and tidy to reduce the risk of a workplace accident from happening. Your employer is duty bound to do the following:

  • That your job is clearly defined
  • That risk assessments are routinely done with an end goal being to identify hazards in the workplace and to set in place all reasonable measures to reduce the risk of an accident at work occurring
  • To ensure that you and all your fellow workers whether permanent or temporary are sufficiently trained to do a job and that ongoing training is provided at regular intervals
  • To ensure that regular feedback is provided on your and your fellow worker’s performance
  • To make sure that you do not work excessive hours
  • To ensure that you and your fellow workers take enough breaks throughout a working period
  • To ensure that you and all other workers are protected from being harassed, bullied or discriminated against in the workplace
  • To ensure that there are easily accessible communication channels so that any concerns may be raised and to discuss these fairly

If you are injured in the workplace because your employer failed in any of the above, a court or tribunal may deem that they were in breach of their “duty” to keep you safe from harm and injury in the workplace. This could entitle you to seek compensation and to claim Statutory Sick Pay and other benefits that you could be entitled to claim which could include the following:

In order for your claims to be valid, your case must meet specific criteria which are as follows:

  • That you were injured at work in the last 3 years
  • That you were not responsible for the injuries you suffered although if you think you may be partly liable, you could still be entitled to file an accident at work claim because your employer may be deemed partly responsible too – this is referred to as Contributory Negligence

If you are unsure whether you could be entitled to seek compensation from an employer by filing an accident at work claim, a solicitor at www.accidentclaims.co.uk  would offer to assess your case in a no obligation, free, initial consultation which can be carried out over the phone.

How Do I Check if I Can Claim Sick Pay After an Accident at Work?

Providing you are classed as an “employee” and you are not self-employed, you are entitled to be paid Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you sustain a workplace injury or you develop a work-related illness, but in order to claim, your case must meet specific criteria as follows:

  • You started work for an employer
  • You have to take 4 consecutive days or more off sick from work and this includes non-working days
  • The average wage you are paid is a minimum of £116 a week (before tax)
  • You status does not fall into a non-eligible category
  • You followed an employer’s rules regarding sick pay

You may still be entitled to sick pay if you are injured in a workplace accident if you work part-time, are under a fixed contract, are an agency or casual worker and the same applies if you work on a “zero hours” contract.

Accident At Work Claims Advice
Accident At Work Claims Advice

If your employer refuses to give a good reason for not wanting to give you sick pay when you are unable to work following a workplace accident, you must seek legal advice because you may be entitled to start legal proceedings against your employer.

Would I Receive SSP Following an Accident at Work?

As previously touched upon, you may be able to claim Statutory Sick Pay if you are injured in a workplace accident. The amount you may receive is as follows:

  • £92.05 per week – you could receive SSP for up to 28 weeks should you not be able to work due to your workplace injuries.

It is worth noting that if written into your employment contract, you may also receive extra sick pay which is known as “contractual sick pay” from an employer but you cannot be paid less than the statutory amount. Should you not have an employment contract, it is always worth checking the information in a company’s staff handbook.

What Can I Do if an Employer Refuses to Give Me Sick Pay?

Should an employer refuse to give you any sick pay after a workplace accident that leaves you injured and unable to work, you should contact a solicitor at www.accidentclaims.co.uk who would assess whether your employer may have good reason for not doing so or that they are in breach of the regulations regarding SSP. An employer may refuse to pay you SSP for the following reasons:

  • You are “self-employed”
  • You previously received Statutory Sick Pay for the threshold of 28 weeks
  • You received ESA – Employment and Support Allowance within the last 12 weeks
  • You receive statutory Maternity Allowance/maternity pay
  • You are pregnant and your baby is due in four weeks or less and you are off work for pregnancy reasons
  • You have given birth to a baby in the last fourteen week – or in the last eighteen weeks should your baby was born four weeks prematurely
  • You are in the armed forces
  • You were detained by the police or are in prison
  • You work in agriculture

If you are unsure on whether your employer has the right to refuse you Statutory Sick Pay and would like more information, you should contact a solicitor who would establish whether your employer has good reason not to pay you SPP or not.

Would I Be Entitled to Get Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit?

If you are diagnosed as suffering from a work-related disease or illness, or following an accident in the workplace, you are disabled, you could be entitled to receive Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit – IIDB. For your claim to be valid, it must meet the following criteria:

  • You developed a work-related disease/illness/disability at work
  • You developed a work-related disease/illness/disability while on a training course or scheme

The amount of IIDB you could claim would depend on several things which includes the following:

  • How severe your injuries/illness/disability are
  • The complexity of your case

It is noteworthy that should you require care, the person who is designated to be your “carer”, may also be entitled to claim a Carer’s Allowance.

If you are claiming a disability, a “medical adviser” would have assess your needs on a scale of 1% to 100% and you would only be entitled to claim benefits should your case meet a percentage that is 14% or more. With this said, you may receive the following which are provided as guidelines only:

  • 100% – £174.80
  • 90% – £157.32
  • 80% – £139.84
  • 70% – £122.36
  • 60% – £104.88
  • 50% – £87.40
  • 40% – £69.92
  • 30% – £52.44
  • 20% – £34.96

The following criteria must be met for you to be able to claim Industrial Injuries Disability Benefits:

  • You sustained your injuries/illness/disability in the workplace
  • At the time you were taking part in an approved training course or scheme
  • You were injured, developed a work-related illness/disability in England, Scotland or Wales

If you are classed as being a “self-employed” person, you would not be entitled to receive Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.

Can I Claim Sick Pay Entitlement

Should you believe that your employer is treating you unfairly by refusing to give you Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) when you are off work following an injury, illness or disease you suffered in an accident in the workplace, you must seek expert legal advice at the earliest opportunity to avoid any financial hardship. A personal injury lawyer would provide you with essential advice on the law regarding Statutory Sick Pay and would inform you of your rights after an accident in which you suffered any sort of injury, illness or developed a work-related disease.

Seeking Representation From a No Win No Fee Solicitor

If you are injured in the workplace, you have the right to seek legal advice on whether you would be entitled to claim compensation from your employer. However, you would need to give a personal injury lawyer as much evidence and other information to prove that your employer was negligent and that you did not contribute to the injuries you sustained by acting irresponsibly. With this said, if your injuries were caused by another worker, your employer may still be responsible because they are liable for the actions of all their employees. This is referred to in law as vicarious liability.

The solicitor you contact would establish whether you have a strong case against your employer which they would do in an initial consultation that can typically done over the phone and for which you would not be charged. Once a personal injury lawyer is satisfied that you have sufficient proof, they would then determine whether you could be entitled to receive Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) because of the workplace injuries you sustained prevent you from working during your recovery.

A lawyer would offer to represent you on a No Win No Fee basis which in short, means you can seek legal advice and representation from a personal injury solicitor without putting yourself at any financial risk. This would mean signing a No Win No Fee agreement – Conditional Fee Agreement – which is a legally binding contract that sets out the agreed percentage you would only have to pay a personal injury lawyer when you receive the compensation you seek and the amount which is referred to as a “success fee” is taken out of the money a court or your employer’s liability insurance provider awards you.

If your case against an employer is unsuccessful, you do not have to pay for the legal advice or the legal representation that a No Win No Fee lawyer provided because this is written into the Conditional Fee Agreement you signed with the firm of solicitors who acted on your behalf.

Informative Links

If you would like more information regarding Statutory Sick Pay – SSP – following an accident at work that left you injured, please follow the link provided below:

More information relating to Statutory Sick Pay

For more information regarding Employment and Support Allowance – ESA – please click on the link below:

Employment and Support Allowance – ESA

If you suffered an injury at work, developed a work-related illness or you are disabled following a workplace accident and you would like more information regarding IIDB, please click on the link provided below:

More information on Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit – IIDB

Accident At Work Claims Advice
Accident At Work Claims Advice