HSE abandons charge for employees in personal injuries cases

personal-injury-piabAs part of our wide experience in dealing with personal injury cases we recently noticed that the HSE had started to charge staff members involved in personal injuries claims for providing details of lost wages. Rossa McMahon drew attention to the development two weeks ago.

As part of a claim, a HSE staff member would have to pay a €123 fee for a certificate of loss of earnings, something that no other employer has been known to levy. This charge applied whether or not the HSE was involved in the claim.

The Irish Examiner reported on the issue today.

[Rossa McMahon] had highlighted how HSE workers — unlike the vast majority of employees seeking certificates of lost earnings because of an injury — were being charged €123 for the paperwork, necessary for any claim being made to the State’s Injuries Board.

A spokesperson for the Injuries Board confirmed the charging for the production of such a certificate was very uncommon and that the HSE had applied it at three different stages in recent years.

The problem with the charge was that the Injuries Board had confirmed to us that they would not include the cost of the cert when assessing a personal injuries claim. The effect was that respondents (usually insurance companies) would therefore not have to reimburse the charge and the HSE staff member would have to bear the cost out of their own pocket.

We welcome the removal of the charge which would have been an unfair cost to HSE employees bringing personal injuries claims and one which other employees did not have to face.

,