accident at work/long term sick/no pay

[rosiecida]

hi there,this is my first time here so not very confident so please bear with me.to cut a long story short(i wish)anyway ive been off sick since jan with a heart problem and have gone over my sick"quota"as i didnt know that it goes over a 4 year period.the problem being is that i broke my ankle on duty 2 years ago and that has counted towards it.i registered the accident as industrial and this was confirmed to me by the D.W.P H.R services has no record of this from royal mail and being has we've had about 5 managers since then nobody wants to help me.i've faxed a copy of MY paperwork from the D.W.P (lucky i kept it)to H.R.services but they say my manager has to.hope this is making sense to somebody out there because i'm at the end of my tether.so the upshot is im on no pay because i was off work for 18 weeks because of an industrial injury.HELP ME SOMEONE PLEASE. p.s phoned H.R. this morning AGAIN.asked them to call me back on mobile (landline cut off)and in the words of diana ross,im still waiting.thanks.

[stokes11eg]

Sorry to hear of your troubles.Because your original Accident is logged with D.W.P I'd get back to them in the first instance--they can actually be quite helpful at times .Can you maybe clarify what you are asking? Are you in receipt of any benefits at all at present?(YOU should Be),If you have not been off at all in the past two years.you should qualify for sick pay again .
Sorry cannot be of more help, but maybe someone else on here can help a bit more.

[rogue]

if you have been off work for over one year in a four year period you get no pay, but when you dropped down to half pay you should have got help from the dept for works and pensions.
for your accident on duty you should have taken this up as a claim using your branch secretary using a lsm 3 form and if there is no record of your accident from your manager ask your safety representative as they should keep a copy.
it may still not be to late to put in a claim against whoever was to blame for your accident on duty so i would ring your branch secretary as soon as possible,if your claim is succesfull then your pay would have to be reinstated,unfortunately it will properbly
take a long time.

[chezobel]

rosiecider! cant help with any advice with your problem, but i`m sure with a little determination and patience you will achieve something, if not to try and beat these bastards at there own game! good luck in all you do, your fellow minnows!! regards. maryjane

[ldsposti]

hi when you had the accident did you report it to your manager if you did, i think at the time the erica system was in use so it should still be on the system and your AREA safety rep should also have been sent a copy and a plus is if your injury lead to an absence of 3 or more days then it comes under riddor and should have been reported to the health & safety executive, if i was you i would start with your area safety rep.

[suntime456]

Hi with regards to your accident at work and the accident being declared a industrial injury, the D.W.P would of sent you a declaration stating this and you
should have to sent a copy to HR at Sheffield and then HR cofirm this with your line manager.Hope this helps

[kay_thebigbird]

Hi Rosieceda, if your ankle was logged as industrial injury with work & pensions they cannot count it on your stages, when you recieved the relevant paperwork stating it was an industrial injury ,you should have contacted your cwu branch sectretary, & he or she would also have been pursuing a claim for compensation against the respondent, this takes between 1 year & 18 months,I know because I have just won my claim for an injury at work,don't bother with HR services, CWU personal injury solicitors are the people to talk to, but I am not sure how long after the accident you can claim up to ie timescale.I put my claim in straight away.Also if they admitted full liabilty they would have to pay loss of earnings for time off sick,any SA,O/T etc it all mounts up,dependent on your injury & if it is permanent or not.If you are in the union speak to your branch, if you are not take advice from the no win injury solicitors.They are always advertising on tv.

[brothermagrew]

Rosiecida firstly welcome to RMC and secondly as a follow on from kaythebigbird's posting with regards to accident claims.

Time Limits:
If you have an accident you must bring a claim within 3 years of the accident or the court has the power to refuse to allow you to claim for your injury.

The only exception to the 3 year rule is;

If you were under 18 when the accident happened. In this case the 3 years only starts to run from when you are 18.
At the time of the accident you did not know you had been injured or that your injury was caused by an accident, illness or disease, but you find out later. Even if this is years later, the three years may start to run from when you found out. Your solicitor will be able to tell you more.
In some types of accidents the three year limitation period may change. For example, the time limit for injuries involving defective products is two years or an accident caused by a plane, which is also two years.

You should try and see a solicitor as soon as possible after the accident, 3 years may seem a long time, but it isn't. This is because it can often take 3 years just to prepare the case for trial. This may be because you have to wait for operations to see if your condition can be made better.

If your injury is going to give you problems in the future or it cannot be put right then you are likely to receive more in compensation than if your injury improves very quickly.

[stokes11eg]

Also would like to add the .D.W.P have gone back as 8 years with claims--it is a legal requirement of employees to get this right, and if they have not recorded it they are in trouble.

[rosiecida]

hi everyone who responded to my message,your input much appreciated.i'm sort of in contact with the D.W.P.(you ever tried phoning them on a mobile)and they're just giving me the runaround.i did report my broken ankle to my manager,she came to my house to do an accident report but its vanished off the face of the earth!!we have no safety rep in our office.have been in contact to the CWU accident helpline,waiting for a phone call!!!thanks,keep your messages coming.

[dvbuk55]

hi everyone who responded to my message,your input much appreciated.i'm sort of in contact with the D.W.P.(you ever tried phoning them on a mobile)and they're just giving me the runaround.i did report my broken ankle to my manager,she came to my house to do an accident report but its vanished off the face of the earth!!we have no safety rep in our office.have been in contact to the CWU accident helpline,waiting for a phone call!!!thanks,keep your messages coming.

It seems strange that a number of posters on here have been harassed for taking just a few weeks sickness and had to attend ATOS meetings etc, so surely there has been some dialogue about your condition in the 8 months or so since your sickness absence commenced. If the condition is serious I would have thought there would have been some attempt to "pension you off" as that seems to be the strategy at present, at the very least I would have expected you to have been informed that your pay would initially be halved and that should have tipped you off that cessation was the next step.

If you are mobile and can get to your office then instead of using the mobile use the office phone and take as much time as you like, because you won't be paying.