Dailycsr.com – 05 January 2017 – The Ministry of Justice’s proposals which could “restrict employees' ability to claim compensation for personal injury and occupational disease” are stirring advocates and unions alike to ring the “alarm bells”.
 
Moreover, the argument put forth by them also says that restricting the claim on compensation for employees could reduce the safety standards within a workplace. In the month of November 2016, the Ministry of Justice issues a “consultation paper” which outlined the plans of making “whiplash compensation claims less costly to settle”, as well as less eye-catching; whereby the same move has been petitioned by insurers.
 
As part of the plan, the compensation amount to be claimed would be raised from “£1000 to £5000”. When it comes to the “small claims track”, claimants do not get “legal costs” awards, resulting in the payment of legal costs to take place “out of the sum awarded”. Therefore, it becomes harder to avail “legal advices”, which could lead to the claimants choosing to “unrepresented in court”, while they may also decline from pursuing a “claim” to begin with.
 
However, HSE reports:
“But while one option under discussion would limit the proposal to claims arising from road traffic accidents, a second option in the consultation would extend the plan to all personal injury claims made under either employers' liability insurance or public liability insurance”.
 
While, the consultation document considers this step to be “consistent with the government’s aims to disincentivise minor, exaggerated and fraudulent claims and remove unnecessary costs from the claims process. Some local authorities and large commercial organisations receive numerous claims relating to slips and trips.”
 
Workers could demand for claims if they are affected by “workplace injuries, noise-induced hearing loss, musculoskeletal injuries and claims related to asthma exacerbated by work or even asbestosis”. A spokesman of Slater and Gordon terms the said proposal as “troubling”, while the compensation of “work-relating injury” amounting to “£5000 could be a significant one”. In the spokesman’s words:
"As well as seeking compensation for injured workers, personal injury claims help keep workplaces safe. Under these proposals employers will be encouraged to take even greater risks with their employees’ health and safety, confident they will no longer be taken to court and held to account if anything goes wrong."
"We are urging all trade unions and victim support organisations to make sure they respond to the consultation which very helpfully closes on 6 January.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
References:
www.healthandsafetyatwork.com

Dailycsr.com – 13 May 2016 – The only one that still stood its ground in the compensation campaign towards blacklisted construction worker has been Unite, which off-late has arrived at a settlement outside the court, whereby the company has secured “an additional” amount of “£4 million” which were being shared “between 97 claimants”.
 
On the whole Unite represented as many as two hundred fifty six workers, and was given an amount of “£10.4 million”, among the eight construction contractors’ group who bore an allegation in the “scandal”.
 
On the 9^th of May 2016, Unite made an announcement wherein it informed that the “pay outs could range from £25,000 up to £200,000 per claimant”. However, it will depend on “the loss of income and the seriousness of the defamation”.
 
 
 
 
 
References:
http://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/

Dailycsr.com – 10 May 2016 – HSE informs that seventy five percent of organisations that represented “blacklisted construction workers” have clear the compensation payment on behalf of their respective members, whereby putting an end to the matter.
 
Nevertheless, even now there remains ninety individuals who still in pursuit of the claims. They are represented by the “Unite union” and are seeking court’s guidance.
 
The UCATT along with GMB and “Guney Clark and Ryan”, a law firm, are the three organisations who represented blacklisted victims who cleared the claims, whereby they came up with a “joint statement” to inform about the receipt of “compensation settlements”. Moreover, GCR is “acting on behalf of the Blacklist Support Group”.
 
The lawsuits began following the disclosure of Consulting Association’s activities as a result of Information Commissioner’s raid that took place in the month of February 2009.
 
Here are the names of seven such “construction contractors”:
“Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, (and) Skanska UK”.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
References:
http://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/