What counts as a school injury

A school injury is an injury to a child, pupil or student that happens during education, during an activity connected with it, or while school services are being provided. It need not be an injury during a lesson — it may equally happen during a break, on a school trip, on a skiing course or on work experience.

This is perhaps the most underestimated area of injury: children naturally cannot deal with the situation themselves, and parents often do not know that they have any claim against the school. Another curiosity is that school injuries are governed by the Labour Code. Do not look for logic in that — for us it means that decades of employment law practice can be put to use in school injuries as well.

Does any of this sound familiar?

• During PE a child falls, breaks an arm and cannot do sport or go to school for several weeks.
• On a school trip a pupil is injured during an activity organised by the school.

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 injury itself and with its treatment.

Compensation for impaired social functioning

If the injury leaves permanent consequences that limit the child, pupil or student in the long term in ordinary life, in their studies, in sport or in other activities, a claim for compensation for impaired social functioning may also arise.

Loss of earnings

If the child, pupil or student was not working before the injury, that does not automatically mean no claim can arise. The law also allows for a loss of future earnings. If the injury prolongs their studies, or if its consequences prevent or limit their future working life, a claim may arise for the difference between the earnings the injured person would probably have reached had the injury not happened and their actual earnings.

Costs of treatment

You are entitled to reimbursement of reasonably incurred expenses — for example:

• medicines, rehabilitation, medical aids and the like,
• transport to a medical facility,
• help in the household.

When the school is not liable

The school is in a similar position to an employer in the case of a work injury. There are only certain grounds on which it can be relieved of liability for a school injury. Schools often point to the child’s carelessness, but as a rule that alone is not enough for them to be relieved.

How compensation is calculated

The amount depends above all on how serious the school injury was, how long the treatment took and whether it left permanent consequences.

Compensation for pain and for impaired social functioning is determined by a medical points assessment. The number of points is then multiplied by the value of one point.

Beyond that, depending on the circumstances, you can claim, for example, the costs of treatment or other expenses incurred in connection with the school injury.

What to do straight away

• Report the injury to the school and have it properly recorded.
• Ask for a copy of the injury record.
• Keep all medical reports, receipts and other documents connected with the injury.
• Note down exactly what happened.

The most common mistakes

• Parents often deal with injuries “on their own” through commercial accident insurance. That does not extinguish the school’s liability, though.
• If the school has recorded the injury, that does not settle everything. A record of the injury does not in itself mean that proper compensation will follow.
• Injured people often let themselves be fobbed off by the reluctance of the liable party, that is, the school.
• Another common mistake is dealing only with compensation for pain and overlooking the other claims.

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 injuries 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

School injury

The N. family

We cannot see Randl Partners merely as specialists — for us they became a support, a safe place and people who guided us through one of the hardest periods of our lives. Obtaining compensation for our child’s school injury was not just “a case”, but a story they lived through with us.

Their human approach reaches far beyond the work itself. Every phone call, every meeting, every explanation — we always felt that they genuinely cared about us. Not only about the outcome, but about how we felt, what we were going through and what we needed.

Their work was precise, tireless and deeply professional. But what affected us most was their humanity. At the moments when we had doubts, they were our certainty.

Thank you for everything. For the help, for the support, for never leaving us on our own. You are proof that the law can be not only just, but kind.