The Compensation Myths – Unions encourage claims

2 minute read  |  November 21, 2017

We revisit the myths and see if they still hold true in the hope that the phrase ‘compensation myth’ will finally be put to bed.

In last week’s article, we confirmed the myth that It is unfair that insurance companies should have to pay out for diseases such as asbestos-related diseases where they could not have known the risks. This is due to the level of evidence available to insurance companies to accurately assess risk and price premiums accordingly.

This week, we take a closer look at the sixth of the seven myths;

Many of these cases would not be taken if unions didn’t encourage their members to claim

In 2014, while working for a well-known legal firm I wrote:

‘Trade unions can be traced back as far as the 18th century, the period of rapid expansion of industrial society. Women, children, immigrants and rural workers were pooled into large workforces, and it soon became apparent that the voice of the many outweighed the few. Unions were formed to protect the rights of workers, and provide safe working environments and fair pay for their members.’

This has not changed and neither has the answer to the above statement. Unions were formed to protect the rights of workers. If an employee has an accident in the workplace and is injured, if the employer is negligent the union should encourage them to pursue a claim for compensation. Why wouldn’t they?

The statement is phrased in such a way that people are made to believe that claiming is a bad thing. Millions of workers depend upon unions to fight for their best interests. The key difference here is that people assume unions are encouraging workers to claim for any old incident. This is clearly an incorrect assumption as we know that the number of claims have dropped considerably in recent years (see myths 1 and 5).

Until the laws were changed in 2012, insurance companies were paid referral fees for encouraging those people who had suffered an accident to make a personal injury claim. Swings and roundabouts? Pot calling the kettle black? You decide.

Conclusion

Technically this one is fact. But instead of looking at it as a negative, perhaps we should be grateful that there are organisations out there who are looking out for the best interests of the workforce. Also, just because they are ‘encouraged’ to claim, doesn’t mean the claim will be accepted.

Many of these cases would not be taken if unions didn’t encourage their members to claim – true

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