The myth: you can’t make a claim against your employer
If you are unfortunate enough to sustain an injury whilst in the course of your work and the accident was caused by the negligence of your employer, you may be considering pursuing a claim for personal injury. This will not only compensate you for the pain you have endured but also for any financial losses you have sustained as a result.
We understand that you might be worried about making a personal injury claim against your current employer, but this happens more frequently than you might think. In any situation where somebody breaches their duty of care to another person, resulting in injury or illness, the injured party is entitled to seek compensation.
All employers are legally required to have an insurance policy in place to cover them in the case of such claims, this means that they will not be paying your compensation out of any company profit. Any reputable and sensible employer will recognise that your claim against them is not personal; you are simply exercising your right to seek compensation which will help to restore your pre-accident state of health and reimburse any financial losses you have sustained.
Usually, the insurance company will deal with the claim on behalf of your employer, so your employer will not be conducting the claim themselves.
The myth: you are contributing to a ‘compensation culture’
The idea of a spiralling compensation culture – fuelled by scare stories in the media – simply isn’t true. The number of personal injury claims, including claims for car accidents, is on the decrease.
It is important to bear in mind that responsible law firms are only interested in pursuing rightful claims, and a huge amount of work goes into checking the legality of claims. This helps to ensure that only people who are deserving of compensation make claims.
In addition, the work done by personal injury lawyers – as well as the Health and Safety Executive – is helping to improve health and safety standards, especially in the workplace. As-work deaths remain at a higher-than-acceptable level, but they have decreased significantly over the past 20 years.
Read part 1 here.
Our team of highly experienced lawyers and members of the Law Society Personal Injury Panel can help you in all areas of personal injury litigation whatever the nature of the injury. Please contact your local branch or use our contact form to get in touch.
