FabSwingers.com forum: Irish workers who caught covid suing their employers?

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

Listening to the One O clock news on the radio today, it looks like Irish workers are suing their employers because they caught covid in the workplace. With many of them purportedly now suffering from long covid. I'm not a legal expert, but would any of them have a leg to stand on legally as covid was an airborne virus? Plus most of us who caught the virus in March/April 2020 long before vaccines became readily available only suffered very mild symptoms.

Surely if you have a weak immune system, you employer can't be held accountable? Or am I missing something here?

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By *og-ManMan
over a year ago

somewhere

The employer in question hid the fact that so many caught it

I was brought in there the same week to examine a machine when a shift was over and I also had 3 men with me

I had to fill in covid forms and do temp tests and yet they knew they had 140 cases

Afterwards I found out and emailed they never replied ,I couldn't send that crew to other sites because of it

He'll find it hard to prove he got it there but they were in the wrong with what they did

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"The employer in question hid the fact that so many caught it

I was brought in there the same week to examine a machine when a shift was over and I also had 3 men with me

I had to fill in covid forms and do temp tests and yet they knew they had 140 cases

Afterwards I found out and emailed they never replied ,I couldn't send that crew to other sites because of it

He'll find it hard to prove he got it there but they were in the wrong with what they did "

Larry Goodman ?

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By *ancy38Woman
over a year ago

galway

A Lawers wet dream covid will be now.

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By *opdubcatMan
over a year ago

Dublin

I can tell you the cases will come thick and fast once one is successful. Some company’s completely flaunted the guidelines / rules at the height of it. You will also get your usual chancers too. We will have to watch this space.

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By *ilthyNightsCouple
over a year ago

East / North, Cork

I've been waiting for this to happen. Businesses who didn't pay due attention to protecting staff ARE liable.

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By *umon337Man
over a year ago

Offaly

There were shady goings-on in certain industries long before 2020 - covid just exposed some, like fruit picking and meat factories.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

If it does happen it'll open the floodgates.

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By *3nsesMan
over a year ago

Dublin

Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Acts some people/workers in some industries would probably have very strong cases.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

snowflake mentality , how bout self responsibility ?

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By *og-ManMan
over a year ago

somewhere

"snowflake mentality , how bout self responsibility ?

How can you have self responsibility when your employer hides the truth and doesn't pay you if you're out sick to encourage you to not report it

Boning halls are horible places to work....dangerous...and workers on top of each other

Irish people won't work in them so foreign nationals getting paid via companies in Lithuania and treated like shite is the norm

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Extremely difficult to prove it was caught in the workplace, this type of thing should not even be entertained.

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By *mmortalValkyrieWoman
over a year ago

From a galaxy far far away

"Extremely difficult to prove it was caught in the workplace, this type of thing should not even be entertained. "

It should be entertained as a test case. Apparently the employee in question ended up in icu and was extremely ill and has been ever since. It was early 2020 prior to what we know now is a highly transmissible airborne virus.

So was there negligence on behalf of the employer? What we know now, cannot be applied retrospectively..

The Governments offer of €100k compensation to front line staff who died, is this because they know cases are coming?

I think this will be very interesting....will the EE be able to prove they contracted covid in the workplace and that the ER was to blame by their H&S negligence?

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Listening to the One O clock news on the radio today, it looks like Irish workers are suing their employers because they caught covid in the workplace. With many of them purportedly now suffering from long covid. I'm not a legal expert, but would any of them have a leg to stand on legally as covid was an airborne virus? Plus most of us who caught the virus in March/April 2020 long before vaccines became readily available only suffered very mild symptoms.

Surely if you have a weak immune system, you employer can't be held accountable? Or am I missing something here?

Well if the employer made the sick employees go in and work hence causing others to get sick then yes definitely they have a case

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"snowflake mentality , how bout self responsibility ?

My last job had an outbreak the week after I left. They ignored the guidelines and the staff that were left were under so much pressure the week of Xmas. Just for the sake of making money 85% of the staff got sick in the space of 3 weeks or less. So as much as I agree that some people need to cop on , I don't agree in not shotting the doors when you have 4 positive cases in one day with a total staff of 26 and those 4 were close contact to 6 more staff just that day

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By *teppenwolfMan
over a year ago

Cork

Duty of care to employees is a basic premise of statutory health and safety provisions...so yes if requirements arent met....covid related or not.....theres is possible exposure

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By *inkywife1981Couple
over a year ago

A town near you

During a pandemic where the virus is everywhere how is it possible to pinpoint where you picked it up or more to the point prove where you picked it up

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By *ilthyNightsCouple
over a year ago

East / North, Cork

"During a pandemic where the virus is everywhere how is it possible to pinpoint where you picked it up or more to the point prove where you picked it up"

It's not... but that's not an excuse for putting profits over people and not taking public health measures seriously. I'm not sure what burden of proof is required in cases like this. It might be enough to prove that the required measures were not in place. Not sure. Perhaps even if you can't prove individual cases came from a workplace, then there might be health and safety prosecutions from not protecting staff correctly in general.

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By *inkywife1981Couple
over a year ago

A town near you

"During a pandemic where the virus is everywhere how is it possible to pinpoint where you picked it up or more to the point prove where you picked it up

Not saying anyone has any excuses and I'm far from a legal expert but I can't see anyone being successful in the courts.

I had covid but no symptoms and almost went to work as normal only for a last minute antigen test due to a close contact. If I had gone to work and unwittingly passed covid around it wouldn't be my employers fault

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