The questions you are raising come down to the following. You had a road traffic accident while driving to work. Under the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 the accident is considered to be an occupational accident once it involved an uninterrupted journey. An uninterrupted journey is interpreted as meaning that were going to work and in doing so you did not disrupt that journey like going shopping. You say you are presently claiming illness benefit. Check with the Dept whether you were claiming occupational injuries for the first six months or whether it was illness benefit that you were claiming? You should have being claiming occupational injuries benefit and there are secondary benefits to having this classified as an occupational accident which I will get back to later.
You say you did not receive wage slips. As Welfarite said you have the right receive wage slips which show your pay and deductions including tax, PRSI and other deductions made. When a person leaves employment that employer has to issue the employee with a P45. You say the employer has stated that he believed that you had left employment since he has not heard from you and that you had not submitted any sick certificates – that is a non-runner as far as I can see. If this employer honestly believed that you had left his employment, why has he not issued you with a P45 at the exact time he formed that opinion – to date he has not even done this. If an employer refuses to issue an employee with a P45, this is a matter that should be brought to the attention of Revenue.
The employer did have the right to receive sick cert’s and you admit that you had not supplied him with any sick certs – while a honest mistake on your part he is right. The employer was obviously aware of your illness and on your side you have a number of texts from him supporting this argument. On your side is that the employer has not questioned the existence of nature of your illness that that as far as I know he has not asked you to submit any sick cert or at any time did he ask for you to get examined by an occupational health physician. You do not give the certification of incapacity form that you were getting your GP to complete for the DSFA to the employer. A doctor would give a general certificate to a patient for their employer saying you were unfit for work, detailing the clinical reason of illness and duration of incapacity.
As you were involved in a RTA while on your way to work and this resulted in you being off work for more than three day’s due to injuries received the employer had a responsibility to notify the Health & Safety Authority of this occupational accident. You can check whether this employer made any such notification by contacting the HSA directly. It constitutes a statutory breach of the employer failed to notify the HSA of this accident.
If you are claiming Illness Benefit and not Occupational Injuries Benefit (which is the correct benefit that you should have been claiming from 2008) you need to clarify how you get this correctly classified by the DSFA as an occupational accident… maybe Welfarite can direct you on how this can be done – check with the occupational injuries section of the Dept first to clarify whether it was occupational injuries benefit that you were claiming since first claim. If it wasn’t occupational injuries benefit - the Department may be reluctant to re-classify this as an occupational accident – as this will have knock-on implications in relation to Departmental expenditure. Generally, on the first certification of incapacity for occupational injuries there is a section for the employer to sign declaring the accident – and this may be a problem that you may face. But I’d persist in getting this correctly re-classified – it is in your interest. As an occupational accident you have the right to other social welfare benefits. Under the provisions of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 2005 these include;
Disablement benefit pension (calculated on the percentage based on the affects that your injury has had on you when compared to a person of same age, qualifications etc)
Under Section 94 of the Act refund of costs of rehabilitation
Under Section 86 of the Act a full refund of all medical care expenses that you incur as a result of this accident if the care received is not met under the Health Acts. This fees that you are entitled to receive a full refund on is GP, Pharmaceutical, appliances, and expenses involving travel to and from all places of treatment from taxi and bus fees and using a car travel a allowance that is calculated on mileage, parking and toll bridge fees, and any other care received that is received by you on the prescription of a registered practitioner.