Not sure of rights - Personal injury and the workplace.

[santiago]

I recently started working for a large company. 3 months service so far. On a weekend a few weeks ago i played sport and pulled my hamstring. I rang up for a personal day which was granted however the manager said i needed a "fit for work certificate". So i went to the doctor and he wrote one up, basically without much investigation on his part. I went to work and i applied to use my annual leave as i work a very physically demanding job and i wanted to use the annual for rehabilitation. I worked 2 days in pain (my own problem) and when i asked how my leave request was going i was denied leave. I mentioned when denied that i was injured and i needed to take time off to repair the injury. I was sent home immediately on the spot on unpaid leave and told it was irresponsible to be working and why did i have a "fit for work" from doc. I said that the doc just filled it out and i was trying to do the right thing but underestimated the injury (of which a hamstring is a pain in the ass truthfully if anyone has done one they will truthfully know).

Went back to the doc and he wrote me a fit for work but re-adjusted it another 2 weeks. So i took another 2 weeks off work. The thing is, this is a very large company. I feel if they wont let me work, and the doc says i cant work then whats the difference between being sick and being injured. Albeit...im only three months into employment so i may not have many sick hour entitlements, but i dont see how calling in claiming to be sick or calling in claiming to be injured (not a workplace injury) has any difference.

The catch is however that i was denied using my holiday ie annual leave as pay. Obviously being off from work, denied sick pay....now denied holiday pay. Kind of makes me wonder whether, if they pay that they kind of admit to having an employee with a pulled hammy working for two days and that opens them to a potential lawsuit.

Also, i looked into my super-annuation....i pay for insurance pay continuance apparently like most people prolly do, im sure there is a catch but does super insurance pay salary like they say they do. Im sure its a scam, like all super and related.

Unfort im in the union, never have been before, i might get them involved but i wish i knew my rights first. Surely any person is entitled to annual leave payout if circumstances permit.I hate to get my union involved and i honestly dont think i deserve sick pay as its a personal injury but i certainly believe i have the right to be paid out holiday pay when on unpaid enforced leave for two weeks.

In future maybe i should just lie through my teeth like most people and pretended i had glandular fever, better still i should have just pretended to pull my hammy at work.

[Sallubrious]

Why don't you contact the union and find out your rights ?

If you're paying union dues then make the bastards earn their money, just tell them you are just enquiring and don't want them to take any action. You might need them to intervene but employers don't take too kindly to union involvement.

I'm not sure about the super, many times that is a bit of a scam but it wouldn't hurt to contact them. I'm sure they would want you to jump through all sorts of hoops before they paid though. They'd want doctors certificates and maybe even want you to see one of their doctors which can often be in the middle of your nearest capitol city.

Edited October 24, 2012 by SallyD

[GoOnThen]

First thing you need to do is find out what award you are employed under. If you are employed by a large company I would presume they are a PTY LTD company which should put you under a national award. All of the information on the awards can be found here http://www.fairwork....es/default.aspx

As far as what you are entitled to.

Your employer had every right to send you home if you were unfit for work and as your injury was not work related then it is up to your employer to make the decision to allow you to work on light duties but you must understand that if you are back at work and not able to carry out you duties then it costs the company as it has to pay you at the full rate.

The award that you are employed under will tell you what leave your entitlements are and I would approach your employer again regarding using any leave that you have owing.

Before making any statements to your employer about what is or isn't within your employment rights make sure you know exactly what your rights are.

Cheers

Got

[Buzybee]

Sorry to read of your unfortunate experience. Firstly your super if you read into it carefully will have inserted the information that in the event of you being unable to work due to serious illness (cancer, heart or other etc) that is diagnosed by your specialist then after 6 weeks of using up ALL other leave then you can apply. If you have more good if you don't then you're pretty broke by the end of those six weeks and sick as well. This is an insurance that most companies have attached to your super and it may be accessed if your doctor thinks you need it for up to 18 months more or less depending on your individual policy.

Honey most big companies are a beehive of personality and ego so I do not believe it will further your cause to poke a stick into the hive ie you will be stung for sure. Honestly my advice would be to seek some loan of money to carry you through till you are fit to return to work. For future reference try and keep under their hr radar and follow their rules for leave and honestly if you have this happen talk to your doctor and explain the situation as medical certificates can say medical condition and that covers a heck of a lot of illness! That would be my advice and then you can access your sick leave entitlements which should be 8 days a year.

It is indeed a sorry world that we inhabit when a worker states truthfully and tries to legally access leave to rehabilitate without using company sick leave and is treated as you have been. However in 2012 we have all kinds of legal loopholes and ligation happening so most big companies yours too I suspect have had to adopt this hard line approach to workers entitlements. Hope you get better soon and that your situation improves. From Buzybee.

[Snowfella]

Awards would depend on the company too though, the one I work for has awards negotiated not nationally but rather site specific. So me in Minchinbury has a different award/EBA to guys in the same company but located in Erskine Park...mere kilometers away.

As for holiday allowances and getting payed holiday pay, with only 3 months of service you likely only would of "earned" 1 week of holiday pay. And again depending on what award/EBA you are under there could be clauses saying you can't use your leave within a certain amount of time from starting your employment.

Had it been where I work you still would of been on a probationary basis, first 3 months is on probation, and it would of been bye bye had you injuried yourself outside of work within those 3 months.

[santiago]

Thanks for the comments there, i realise i probably was just having a woe is me moment. I know its in my and the companies best interests not to be working and even if you do pretend to injure yourself at work, you screw yourself up in pursuit of other jobs having to tick the past workers comp box i believe.

I really didnt factor in the probation into it, suppose i was just a little bemused without an income per se you cant tap into holiday pay as a backup (of which i had a week) for some survival money. I suppose i was getting lazy, at least now i survived i got a weeks holiday up my sleeve.

At the end of the day its my fault i got injured and the world owes me nothing, however if there is a next time....ill be playing the game a bit smarter. I reckon they didnt give me the holiday pay so that if i did quit they can ransom employees to a weeks notice so they just dont walk out unpenalised. Im sure they got all bases covered. You live and learn, you also learn that the worlds out to bleed you and the $8 for superannuation insurance and $7 per week union fees is just another of the worlds elaborate scams. $15 per week for fuck all i believe, got the wool pulled over everybodies eyes....just like a proper scam should.

In my eyes the world is just like the ocean, fish eating fish, except in the human world its the fish replaced with money, sharks scamming, eating gobbling each other up....the financial system is one big fraud. But se la ve....another time.

Had it been where I work you still would of been on a probationary basis, first 3 months is on probation, and it would of been bye bye had you injuried yourself outside of work within those 3 months.

dude, thats horrible...who do you work for, the chipendales i dont really think that workplace would have a leg to stand on, im no lawyer but that would reek of "unfair dismissal" to me and im sure to some workplace watchdog.

[Snowfella]

Without getting myself into hot water all I really can say is I work for one of the 2 big grocery chains, they have a nil tolerance policy on negative comments made online

Least it's alot better now than when I started as a casual near 11 years ago! Back then we were told not to have any days off what so ever in the first 3 months and not turn a single shift down if asked to work. Some guys ended up working 7 day weeks untill they just about collapsed and I damn nearly got booted out for having 2 days off so I could move house!

And fair enough, might not be bye bye straight off the bat nowadays but your probation would be restarted once you get back to work.