Enterprise Bill “stacks odds against workers”

Posted: 15th January 2013

Posted in: Employer Negligence Workplace Injuries 

Government plans to change workplace law are a license for rogue bosses to let safety standards fall, claim the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).

APIL is lobbying for a Government amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill to be dropped as it is debated in the House of Lords.

“The Government is trying to overturn 100 years of legal procedure by making the injured worker have to provide all the evidence to prove that the employer who has injured him was at fault,” explained APIL president Karl Tonks. “This is grossly unfair as it tilts the playing field in favour of negligent bosses”.

“Employers always have the upper hand as they are the ones who control the workplace and the work equipment, and who hold all the information about what systems they have in place. The injured person, who has none of this knowledge at his fingertips will have to gather the evidence himself to prove his case and the odds will be completely stacked against him, where now the law is fair and looks after the vulnerable individual,” said Mr Tonks.

Mr Tonks estimates that the proposals would affect 70,000 cases in Great Britain.

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