What is an Occupational Accident Compensation Case?
An occupational accident compensation case is a material and moral compensation case filed by an employer in the event that an employee working at the workplace is injured or killed due to an employment relationship, in order to pay compensation to him or his relatives by the responsible employer.
An occupational accident compensation lawsuit can be filed against both the main employer and all subordinate employers (subcontractors). For example, if company X has subcontracted the electrical work of the construction it has done to Company Y, and company Y has done some of the electrical work together with company Z; if a company Z worker dies as a result of an occupational accident, a lawsuit for material and non-pecuniary damages may be filed against all companies (Z, Y and Z) due to an occupational accident, provided that it is paid severally and jointly.
What Are the Conditions Considered to Be Occupational Accidents?
13 of the Social Insurance Law No. 5510. according to the article, situations that are considered to be an occupational accident and can be sued for compensation are as follows:
Any physical or mental damage suffered by the employee while he is at the workplace belonging to the employer is considered an accident at work. It does not matter in what way the worker was injured or died. If the incident to which the employee was exposed occurred at work, it is considered an occupational accident and may be the subject of a compensation claim. For example, if a heart attack occurs at work, it is recognized by the Supreme Court as an accident at work only for this reason.
Due to the fact that the employee, depending on the employer, is sent to another place outside the workplace as an employee, the acts that the employee has been subjected to recently, without doing his main job, are an accident at work and can be the subject of a compensation case.
If the employee works independently on his own behalf and on his own account due to the work performed by the employer, any event that occurs due to the work he is carrying out may be subject to a compensation claim as an accident at work.
Accidents that a breastfeeding female worker is exposed to during the time allotted to give milk to her child in accordance with labor legislation are an occupational accident. For example, an employee who was injured by a chair falling from the upper balcony while breastfeeding his child may sue the employer for work accident compensation.
Any kind of accident that occurs during the employee’s arrival and departure to the place of work by an employer-provided vehicle is an occupational accident. In practice, such accidents are called traffic work accidents.
In practice, the question that workers are most interested in is how long the work accident compensation case will last. Many issues, such as whether an occupational accident is fatal or traumatic, the nature of the occupational accident between the employee and the employer, the parties’ Decency rate in the occurrence of an occupational accident, the employee’s salary, and whether the disability rate should be challenged in occupational accidents with injuries, determine how long the occupational accident compensation case will last. An average compensation case in Turkey results in at least 1.5 – 2 years.
The Period for Filing an Occupational Accident Compensation Claim (Statute of Limitations)
The period for filing a claim for compensation due to an occupational accident, in other words, the statute of limitations period; is 10 years from the date of occurrence of an occupational accident (BK m.146). There is no difference in terms of the general statute of limitations between the Dec of injury (disability) or death as a result of an occupational accident.
In particular, because of an accident at work the criminal case criminal case is opened and the “limitation period” is the period of limitation applies in the case of criminal proceedings due to work accident compensation. For example, in the event of the death of two workers working in the construction sector, a criminal case will be opened for the crime of causing death by taxi. In case of causing the death of two people by taxi, the statute of limitations for a criminal case is 15 years. The 15-year statute of limitations in the criminal case will also be applied in the case of compensation for an accident at work. However, if two people are injured by falling from the construction, the criminal case statute of limitations will be 8 years, since the crime will be a crime of injury by negligence, in this case, the 10-year general case statute of limitations will be taken into account, not the statute of limitations of the criminal case.
Another point that should be considered in terms of the statute of limitations is when the statute of limitations will begin to operate if the disability rate cannot be accurately determined in cases of disability (injury) as a result of an occupational accident. In the event that the disability increases due to a “developing situation”, the statute of limitations begins to run from the date of the last report, when the disability is definitively determined.
Competent Court in Cases of Compensation for Work Accidents
The labor courts authorized to deal with occupational accidents are determined as follows (Labor Courts Law No. 7036 m.6):
The court of general jurisdiction in occupational accidents is the settlement court of the respondent natural or legal person on the date of the case. If the defendant is more than one, the settlement court of one of them is also authorized.
The labor court of the place where the work accident or damage occurred is also authorized to consider cases of material and moral compensation caused by work accidents.
The employment court is also authorized to be the place of residence of the employee who has been disabled due to an occupational accident or, if the death has occurred, the relatives of the plaintiff of the deceased employee.
Authorization agreements between the employee and the employer that Dec contrary to the above provisions are invalid.
Case of Detection of an Accident at Work
An accident at work must necessarily be reported by the employer to the Social Security Institution. Upon notification of the employer or employee, the SSI conducts an inspection through inspectors and issues an inspection report regulating whether the incident occurred was an accident at work, the way the incident occurred, and the defect status of the parties. If the incident is described as an occupational accident in the inspection report, the rightholder can file a claim for material and non-pecuniary damages directly in the employment court.
Although the occupational accident was reported to the Social Security Institution (SSI), if the incident was not considered an occupational accident by the SSI, an “occupational accident detection case” should be filed in which both the SSI and the employer will be shown as the defendant. The dispute related to the determination of an occupational accident is directly related to the area of rights of the Social Security Institution, and the institution is not a party to the compensation case. Therefore, the case for the detection of an occupational accident is considered in the form of a case independent of the compensation case. The period for filing a case for the detection of an occupational accident is subject to a 10-year statute of limitations from the date of occurrence of an occupational accident. The work accident compensation case should wait for the completion of the work accident detection case, which is filed in the form of a separate case.
After the case of detecting an occupational accident is finalized by concluding the determination of an occupational accident in favor of the employee, the SSI binds a regular income to the employee in case of disability and the relatives of the rightful owner of the deceased in case of death. A certain part of the connected income is deducted from the amount of compensation claimed in the compensation case.
If a compensation claim has been filed without notifying the occupational accident institution (SSI), the plaintiff should be given time by the employment court to report the occupational accident claim to the Social Security Institution. If the incident is not considered to be an occupational accident by the Institution, the plaintiff should be given time to file an “occupational accident detection lawsuit” on the employer’s behalf, as this time it will affect the Social Security Institution and the field of rights. As a result of this determination case, which will be opened, the court hearing the compensation case should be expected and the trial should be held according to the result.
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