John

You need some solid independent legal advice here from an employment law solicitor and possibly an accident litigation lawyer. Strictly the accident is at work but there are obvious connotations with continuing with this employer if you push the legal buttons.

You could employ a quiet call to the enforcement (HSE or LA) as there should have been a riddor notification

Bob

johnb, bob is correct you need to consult a solicitor urgently. The employer is obliged to pay you the agreed pay as per your conditions of employment. That does not mean you lose out overall, as the person who caused the accident has to pay the rest. The cost of medical treatment has to be covered as the NHS will require you to pay out of any compensation you recieve so add that to any loss. But, the main point is seak legal advise not against your employer but the person who caused the accident.

You need legal advice, as already advised.
Your vehicle insurance may already cover you for that, or your household insurance.
if not then there are a massive amount of legal advisors who will act for you under the No-Win-No-Fee
arrangement.
Legal advice is also covered (up to 30 mins I think) under the law societies various schemes, see a solicitor.
As for others comments about it being irresponsible to drive if injured....they may be right...but many do, and under the "Fit [for not much] note" scheme many more will be driving, and working, "unfit".
If you had a "fit note" and you considered that working was harming you, then there are a fair few who consider that your GP may be liable for issuing said note.
Legal advice first though.
Are you in a union ?

Sorry missed company car so get the company insurers involved in suing the driver. Good employers normally cover the wage loss in the interim but some do not. I suspect they attempted a claim on the insurance already.

Bob

John, I am sorry that you have been injured in this accident and I hope that you are on the mend soon, and make a ‘good’ recovery.

The question you ask “.. should have employer treated this as a work related accident and kept me on full wages”. ? is interesting. At first sight it looked like 2 questions

1. should have employer treated this as a work related accident; AND
2. Should I have been paid full wages while I was off sick?

However, I think the real essence is related to the latter I.e. you being paid in full by your employer.

To try and tease out the issues then. Putting the issue of your sick pay/full wages to one side; are you suggesting that your employer hasn’t treated this as a ’work related injury’, and if so in what way? In fairness (and I expect to be shot down by any number of people) I suggest that your employer actually had little or no control over the accident and therefore no ‘responsibility’ for it either, so rather than being a work related accident I suggest that it was an accident sustained while at work? I think that there is a subtle but important distinction between the two.

Now for the crunch question. I do not think that your employer is under any strict (statutory) legal obligation to pay you your full wages, whether this was work related or not. You MAY have a contractual right to enhanced pay, in addition to SSP; that will be detailed in your contract of employment. Employers can suspend that contractual right in certain circumstances, although I wouldn’t think that this situation would be one of those.

I suggest that your ‘beef’ is actually with the driver that caused the accident, your injury and subsequent loss of earnings. If there is little question over the liability then you could seek an interim payment from the 3rd party insurer and I have seen this happen on a number of occasions. This is to assist the injured party in the interim period in cases of financial hardship, while ’they’ argue the terms of the final settlement, which can take some considerable time.

I can’t help but feel; that your post at #3 “I would like to think that an employer would look after their employees after suffering an injury at work and would not reduce there [sic] wages.”., is slightly naïve. I know that sounds rather harsh, but the reality of working life for a great many people is that their employers do not pay contractual sick pay and that people are often left to ‘fend for themselves’. That being said, IF your employer does pay contractual sick pay, then they should pay YOU and then claim that back from the insured driver at fault. This is something that my ‘company’ has done on a number of occasions.

RIDDOR! Oh dear me! I can’t help but feel that Bob’s statement at #7 “The advisers of your HR are obviously trying to manipulate their statistics or are not competent in interpreting RIDDOR - ..” is at best unhelpful, probably grossly unfair and possibly defamatory. I really do not believe that this is reportable under RIDDOR and I suggest that your company has interpreted this correctly, rather than them being either manipulative or incompetent. RIDDOR reg 10 (2) applies, see http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l73.pdf and in particular the guidance in paragraphs 95/96. It would be helpful if the guidance also provided specific examples where reporting was not required! I do not suggest that reporting your company to the HSE would be a terribly wise approach to adopt in this particular instance.

Yes, I tend to agree that some legal advice might be helpful. However, a no win no fee company is unlikely to take up your ‘cause’ for your employer not paying your full wages. As I have already said I don’t believe they are under any (statutory) legal obligation to. I really do suggest that a non confrontational approach to your employer to find out IF you are entitled to contractual sick pay in these circumstances, and if so why you aren’t getting it.

Lastly, while I sympathise with your 'predicament' I also empathise with Ian’s comment at #5!

Ramble over.

I found this interesting article on RIDDOR and road accidents whilst at work.

http://www.youclaim.co.u...s-and-riddor-figures.htm

The question was simply should the employer have contnued to pay his normal wages. He asked nothing else about RIDDOR or any thing like it. The answer is it depends on your terms of employment. At the minimum statutory sick pay is due and nothing else. If the injured party wants more he needs to talk to a solicitor and follow the claim through the courts, as simple as that. Forget about the HASAW Act and the Management Regs this does not fall into the question put, it is simply a conditions of employment issue, he is making no claim against his employer after all.

Thanks for the replies interesting thoughts.
The other driver accepted full responsibility and was fined £400 for dangerous driving. I am now classed as midly disabled and my back will not fully recover. Iam still at work full time so can't complain. I have got legal advice and taking the other driver to court. I know it was not really a h&s issue but feel agreived at the actions of the employer. At least i'm stll working and hanging together.

Johnb

we have quite a few RTCs per year to staff travelling between calls, these do net get reported under RIDDOR HSE are quite happy with this.