Posted By Victor Moorehead I wonder if any one could shed some light on this for me. My partner injured her arm at work - using an old hoist to lift an elderly patient - and has been off work for the last 4 months receiving physio treatment etc. She has now been told that further tests etc are required and this will take at least another 2 months. According to her current contract at the 6 months stage she will go on 1/2 pay. My question is this: If the injury was caused by equipment that was provided by the employer, can they reduce her pay in this manner. It seems somewhat unfair that they can cause the accident and then penalise her because it takes more than 6 months to rectify! Any advice would be appreciated. Regards

Posted By Neil R In short, yes they can. Although the contract is written in broad terms and doesn't take into account circumstances. Your best bet is to speak to HR, they will in some cases continue to pay full pay when its due to an accident at work as it may prevent a personal injury claim or be used during the process to reduce the overall payout. Simple answer ask the question to senior HR, if they continue to pay full wage then happy days. If not then write down your losses and put a claim in for the accident.

Posted By David J Jones Opps! That should, of course, be "circumstances" Doh!

Posted By Wil I had a friend in a similar position. His pay was reduced half pay after 6 months (after an accident at work). The company refused to relent as they said it would be admitting liability. My friend did however get statutory sick pay which helped. As you would expect he was pushed into a corner so is now claiming for lost earnings etc etc.

Posted By S T As mentioned y previous posts, it is an HR issue. It purely depends on your T&C set in the contract. So the best thing will be look into your contract of employment. Employment law itself does not state that employee should be given full pay during all the period of sickness. It only covers few weeks. Therefore, companies are hesitant to provide full pay, hence accepting the liability. In response to your annoyance for the fact that accident happened at work. Please note that this is covered by employee liability insurance, not by employment rights. However, you can sought compensation for any loses through a civil claim, bearing in mind, not all the claims put against the employers are fruitful.

Posted By Alan Nicholls Also don't forget now for long term sickness you still build up holiday entitlement! Regards Alan

Posted By Raymond Rapp Not read all the postings and apologies if someone has mentioned it already, but as an industrial injury there is a good chance that any loss of earnings could be addressed through an industrial injuries claim. That is what it is there for, paid by the employer through employer's liability insurance.

Posted By Bill Parkinson Within the NHS we operate an industrial injuries benefits scheme which means that injuries sustained under the term of industrial injuries qualify for Temporary Injury Allowance which I believe means that they should receive upto 85% of their normal wages. If they subsequently are not able to return to work then Permanent Injury Benefit may be payable meaning that they will be paid the qualifying figure for the rest of their life although if they can work elsewhere then this could be reduced. If the injured person does not work for a public organisation then they should contact the DWP to register the injury under the Industrial Injuries Benefits Scheme ( I also presume it has been reported to the enforcing authority if a work related incident).

Posted By Liz Johnston Vic, Under the Local Government (Discretionary Payments) Regulations 1996, local authorities are required to have a scheme for payments for when an incident causes an injury at work and that injury leads to a reduction in renumeration (ie pay). In many authorities it is called the Industrial Injury Scheme or Industrial Injury scheme. However it is often not well know in authorities. Talk to their health and safety manager who should know. The exact scheme varies from authoirty to authority. Regards Liz