제 목 : Employees Claim Damages for Effects of Poor Working Condtions
일 자 : 1997년 09월
제공처 : Safety + health(EU Update)
Employees in the NetherlanJs are,for the first time, taking civil court
action against emloyers to claim damages for ill health that resulted
from poor workrng conditions.
"We expect a steep rise in liability claims in the next few years," says
Marcel Wilder, Netherlands TradeUnion Confederation represenrative.
Insurance companies expect to pay out billions of dollars in claims,
he says.
Wilder says that a major reason workers are seeking damages
through the courts is because the Dutch government recently altered
the country's insurance laws and reduced the length of time injured
or sick workers can receive a portion of their regular pay.
Under Dutch law, no distinction is made between work absences
caused by poor working conditionsor some other cause. In the past, sick
workers could receive a large portion of their wages for long periods.
This meant that sick workers were not required to prove the connection
between illness and work conditions, and that employers were not
under the pressure of risk-based premiums to improve their working
conditions.
Wilder sees the changes as positive. "The Long-term effect is that
employers must take steps to reduce risks or be faced with large premium
increases," he says.
Employer confederation representative Bob Koning says employers
supporteJ the governement's changes to the insurance legislation,
but did not foresee the rise in legal claims. "Employers are not happy
with this," he says.
The situation was artificial Koning says, and resulted from changes in
insurance legislation rather than a deterioration in working conditions in
the Netherlands.
He acknowledged that insurance premiums could be a good motivator
for employers to improve working conditions, however.
The Netherlands has both the highest productivity and the highest
absenteeism in Europe.
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