What counts as an occupational disease

An occupational disease is an illness that arose in connection with the performance of work under particular conditions. It must also be named in the list of occupational diseases. It is not enough that health problems appeared while you were employed: a direct connection always has to be proved, and that is decided by a specialist doctor at the relevant occupational disease centre, on the basis of your state of health and of a check on the conditions under which you worked.

Does any of this sound familiar?

• You have worked for a long time with tools that repeatedly overload the hands, and you have started to suffer from pain, tingling or loss of sensation.
• You work in a noisy environment and your hearing is gradually getting worse.
• Working with chemicals, you repeatedly develop skin, respiratory or other health problems.

What you are entitled to

Compensation for pain

Compensation for pain is a one-off payment for the physical and mental suffering connected with the occupational disease and with its treatment.

Compensation for impaired social functioning

If the occupational disease leaves long-term or permanent consequences that limit you in ordinary life, at work or in other activities, you may also become entitled to compensation for impaired social functioning, that is, for the permanent consequences in your life.

Loss of earnings

You are entitled to be paid the difference between what you earned before the occupational disease and what you receive during the incapacity for work it caused. Compensation may also be due after the incapacity for work ends, if you do not reach the earnings you had before the disease.

Costs of treatment

You can also claim reimbursement of reasonably incurred costs connected with treating the occupational disease. These may be, for example, medicines, rehabilitation, medical aids and other expenses directly related to the treatment.

Damage to property

An occupational disease may also cause damage to property. You can claim for that against the employer as well.

One-off compensation on termination of employment

If, as a result of an occupational disease, you lose the long-term medical fitness to carry out your existing work and your employment ends for that reason, you may be entitled to a one-off payment of twelve times your average monthly earnings.

When the employer is liable

Liability for the harm lies with the employer for whom the employee last worked under the conditions in which the given occupational disease arises. So if the employee did similar work for several employers, there is no need to establish with which of them it arose “the most”. The liable employer is the last one.

How compensation is calculated

Compensation for pain and for impaired social functioning is based on a medical report and a points assessment. Note that with occupational diseases not just any doctor may carry out the points assessment — only certain specialists may. For loss of earnings what matters most is the earnings before the injury, the income after it and the length of the incapacity for work. The assessment has to take all the individual claims into account, together with the way they relate to one another.

What to do straight away

• Contact the relevant centre that assesses and recognises occupational diseases.
• Keep your medical reports and test results.
• Do not give notice yourself if your health problems mean you cannot do your work.
• Get in touch with us.

The most common mistakes

• Not every illness that appears during employment is an occupational disease. It has to be an illness named in the list of occupational diseases.
• The people being assessed (employees) often underestimate how much the working conditions matter — the assessment looks not only at the state of health, but also at what work the person did and under what conditions.
• If a medical report refusing to recognise an occupational disease is issued, that is not the end of the road. You do have to act quickly, though, and file a request for review within 10 working days. We can help you with that too.

Frequently asked questions

How much will it cost me?

We are aware that paying for professional legal services is often not easy for injured people. That is why, alongside the free assessment, we also offer a contingency fee (a percentage of the amount we manage to recover for the client). No compensation — no fee.

How long does it take?

Unfortunately there is no simple answer. Straightforward cases can be settled in days or weeks; serious damage to health and complicated circumstances can mean months or even years of work.

Do I have to go to court?

A large proportion of cases is resolved before court, once our firm contacts the liable person or the insurer. Sometimes filing a claim is enough for the other side to give up the dispute. Occasionally, though, a case cannot be settled without court proceedings. We are ready to represent you there, so as to obtain your compensation quickly and in the fullest amount possible.

Our results in this area

We have no published case study of this type yet.

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