work joke gone bad

granturismo

Uncle Ben wrote: »

Constructive dismissal along with everything else.

Constructive dismissal can be a very grey area to prove but you have medical records to prove damage.

davo10

granturismo wrote: »

Constructive dismissal can be a very grey area to prove but you have medical records to prove damage.

Not quite, tinnitus caused by exposure to loud noises is usually associated with prolonged exposure and even that tends to be temporary (like the ring in your ears you get after being at a rock concert or disco) in duration. It is non organic so can be difficult to prove or disprove, perhaps that is why the solicitor is taking so long to get back and why the op is being referred to a psychologist. While what the manager did was stupid, this is not as clear cut as a broken bone or loss of tissue and it's unlikely that there was any intent to harm.

Having read this thread, I'm astonished that the employers are not getting out in front of this, disciplining the manager and placating the op particularly if there were witnesses. This would seem destined to end badly for the employer.

xband

davo10 wrote: »

Not quite, tinnitus caused by exposure to loud noises is usually associated with prolonged exposure and even that tends to be temporary (like the ring in your ears you get after being at a rock concert or disco) in duration. It is non organic so can be difficult to prove or disprove, perhaps that is why the solicitor is taking so long to get back and why the op is being referred to a psychologist. While what the manager did was stupid, this is not as clear cut as a broken bone or loss of tissue and it's unlikely that there was any intent to harm.

Having read this thread, I'm astonished that the employers are not getting out in front of this, disciplining the manager and placating the op particularly if there were witnesses. This would seem destined to end badly for the employer.

1) Tinnitus is often caused by a shock to the sensory hairs in the cochlea (inner ear). It could be caused by long term trauma, or a single explosive shock which seems to be the case for the OP.

2) Tinnitus is not a psychological problem, it's very much organic and physical problem. It's just difficult to demonstrate physically due to the location of the damaged hair cells and with current medical technology, it is not possible to fix it in most cases as we have no ability to repair the cochlea.

3) An audiologist can show clearly that tinnitus exists using proper testing. The OP should be attending an audiologist with expertise in tinnitus, not a psychologist, who will have absolutely zero knowledge of the intricacies of the hearing system.

4) The OP has been to an ENT department and may well have physical damage to the eardrum (tympanic membrane) or middle ear bones due to being exposed to an explosive trauma. ANY medical evidence from this should be gathered.

5) Tinnitus can be temporary or it can be permanent. It all depends on what damage was done to the cochlea (inner ear) and how it heals. Fingers crossed it is temporary, as a tinnitus suffer myself, I wouldn't wish it on anyone!

Basically the two people the OP needs as expert witnesses are an audiologist and an ENT consultant (otorhinolaryngologist)

davo10

xband wrote: »

1) Tinnitus is often caused by a shock to the sensory hairs in the cochlea (inner ear). It could be caused by long term trauma, or a single explosive shock which seems to be the case for the OP.

2) Tinnitus is not a psychological problem, it's very much organic and physical problem. It)

If this were an organic (infection) problem, there would be accompanying symptoms (pain, swelling, heat), also it would be visible on examination and confirmed by blood test.

The treatment of tinnitus often involves the prescription of antidepressants/anti anxiety drugs so a consultation with a psychologist is appropriate.

One off loud noises can cause rupture of the tympanic membrane, this would be visible during examination.

Short "sharpe" loud noises rarely cause physical damage to the bones of the internal ear, that is mostly due to trauma, age, disease etc

Damage/trauma to the sensory hairs in the ear from short duration, loud noise in the absence of physical damage to either the membrane or the hard tissues tend to be temporary in nature.

habitformin

I hope your injury gets better, you do not deserve this. However we all make mistakes. no one is perfect. You should be compensated and i hope you are. But again I really hope the trouble passes and you make a full recovery.

xband

davo10 wrote: »

If this were an organic (infection) problem, there would be accompanying symptoms (pain, swelling, heat), also it would be visible on examination and confirmed by blood test.

The treatment of tinnitus often involves the prescription of antidepressants/anti anxiety drugs so a consultation with a psychologist is appropriate.

One off loud noises can cause rupture of the tympanic membrane, this would be visible during examination.

Short "sharpe" loud noises rarely cause physical damage to the bones of the internal ear, that is mostly due to trauma, age, disease etc

Damage/trauma to the sensory hairs in the ear from short duration, loud noise in the absence of physical damage to either the membrane or the hard tissues tend to be temporary in nature.

Davo10:

I don't mean to be patronising here, but you are misusing psychiatric terminology in what is a clear case of tinnitus caused by an explosive trauma. We know the explosion happened and there is nothing psychological about the symptoms.

Psychiatrists and psychologists use the term 'organic' to distinguish mental disorders that are caused by an underlying physical factor such as a trauma, injury, infection, degenerative brain disease, tumour, etc etc from mental illnesses that have no known physical cause.

With tinnitus, a physical injury to ear is an organic problem and it is not necessarily visible on physical examination because an ENT specialist cannot physically gain access to the inner ear (cochlea) where the trauma has occurred.

Some injuries e.g. a ruptured ear drum would be visible to someone looking into your ear with appropriate equipment, and damage to the auditory ossicles (the chain of bones that carry vibrations from the ear drum to your inner ear [cochlea]) would be visible on a high resolution CT scan.

However, you cannot see the hairs of the inner ear on any current technology scan and short of taking them out and analysing them under a microscope (which would render you deaf and be a massively invasive operation) there is no way of physically inspecting them or viewing them with a CT scan, MRI etc.

Also, with an infection of the cochlea, you couldn't necessarily diagnose that with a blood test or even necessarily with a scan as it may not be very visible. You could be talking about a very localised bacterial or viral infection and in this case, it's totally irrelevant anyway as we know the cause : someone caused an explosion of a balloon right next to the OP's ear.

That does not mean that tinnitus is not a physical issue, rather it's just one that is difficult to physically diagnose.

An explosion can cause:

1) Rupture of tympanic membrane (Visible with normal otoscope / operating microscope)
2) ossicular disruption (visible with CT scan, or sometimes via operating microscope especially if the ear drum is ruptured and an ENT takes a look behind it)
3) cochlear damage (rarely visible)

The use of anti-depressants and psychiatric drugs to treat tinnitus is 'off label' use where they may have a 'happy side effect' that basically dulls the transmission of false signals from your ear.

Basically what this comes down to is that the ear evolved to listen to natural noises, typically found in the environment. It's not capable of dealing with sudden, loud explosive sounds and they can do serious damage to its sensory systems.

The noise you hear is a false signal generated by a broken sensor, it's very much 'organic' in the psychiatric sense.

...

Where psychological approaches can be useful is to help people deal with the stress of hearing a false sound all the time and to help them come up with strategies to 'tune it out'.

...

The OP should most definitely seek out a good audiologist and an ENT specialist who knows what they're talking about when it comes to tinnitus and, in this case, acoustic shock / trauma.

Hopefully the tinnitus just fades away as the hearing system returns to normal and repairs any damage, but sometimes those hairs simply do not repair correctly and you're left with a false signal there permanently.

An audiologist who knows what they're on about should be able to identify the fact that tinnitus is present using a whole range of tests from simple audiometry (listening to tones and pressing a button) to evoked response or ABR audiometry which a bit like combining that with an EEG and will show up the frequencies where the tinnitus is because you will not get a response on those freqs.

You can also do pitch and loudness matches to find the exact frequencies you're hearing and come up with masking strategies.

---

Explosive trauma to your ear is quite a serious injury with lasting effect and it shouldn't be minimised as something psychological. It's very much a real physical injury, much like someone punching you in the eye and causing retinal damage!

I don't know why people seek to dismiss it as something 'in your head' when if you had a punch to the eye and were seeing flashing colours for the rest of your life, it would be taken very seriously indeed.

BigGeorge

As someone who has tinnitus I really must say that a some of what has been said above is just junk. I got tinnitus in one ear from going to a rock concert about 7 years ago, in my mid 30s.
Sitting here this morning, 7 years later it is still ringing loud & clear. The cause in my case was damaged hair follicles inside the ear which are the sound receptors. My understanding is that these can sometime fix themselves, but basically because they are damaged, you brain is getting a constant sound signal even though there is no sound. It is very real and gets louder when you are stressed, tired and trying to sleep. The stress it induces is incredible.

When it bothers you it become a vicious circle from which there is no obvious way out. It is so incredibly stressful & debilitating.....and nobody else can see it

The treatment in my case was 2 fold
(1) going to an audiologist to have it verified and quantified
(2) went to a psychologist whose goals was the break the link between this constant high pitched scream and the fact it stresses you. This is done by (a) a small white noise machine that looks like a hearing aid that you wear during the day that has a constant 'ssshhhhh' sounds (b) a small speaker under my pillow that plays sea / waves sounds which make the high pitched sound. This treatment took about 6 months & really worked.

So seven years on, about €1-2k in costs down the line - I still have tinnitus but it doesn't bother me, it is just always there....and I have to live with it. To this say I am 'allergic' to high pitched sounds such as my kids shouting or playing - my head just can't handle it

This is not something trivial, other people can't see it & therefore don't understand, it is a real burden for you that will take money & time to sort out & it won't go away.

xband

I have had it since I had ear surgery about 15+ years ago.

Basically I hear what sounds like a TV channel's off air tuning singnal 24/7/365 for the last 15 years or so. Sometimes it's higher pitched like the noise you might get from a broken power supply that ultra high pitch whirr.

I've tried masking it but it doesn't work so, basically all I can do is try to tune it out by training myself to ignore it.

I literally can't stand being in silence anymore though as it causes me to notice the tone. So, I just avoid silence and listen to music when I'm working or sleeping.

It was a bit of a pain for exams as you're not allowed to wear headphones - for obvious reasons.

Sometimes tinnitus goes away, sometimes it doesn't but it is not some "in your head" issue and absolutely needs to be overcome with anything from psychological approaches to learning to ignore it to technical masking approaches.

As far as I'm concerned the OP was assaulted and injured. If it were an eye injury it would be taken a lot more seriously than this but it's every bit as debilitating. Actually worse in some ways as it is born distracting and can disturb sleep!

faceman

I've also have tinnitus, over 20 years now and I agree with BigGeorge that there is alot of misinformation being posted here. But anyway, back to the OP.

Amsteresident wrote: »

Thanks all for the replies and the really encouraging advice on here.

An incident report was filled in, I managed to get a copy of it but not from the manager.

Since all of this she has been on-off horrible to me. From addressing me in a harsh manner to talking to me as if I was the one who did something wrong in all of this. I also came in late a couple of times because I'm just not sleeping well, it takes a while to fall asleep so on days where i'm not completely jaded tired the ringing keeps me awake. Then if I'm late I'll have a comment from her about it when I come in.

Basically the physician passed me over a psychologist who works in the practice, she said they need to ascertain that stress management is in place to support me, and that I take adequate measures to ensure that the tinnitus is not prolonged due to the stress/distress the whole incident brought on.

I contacted a solicitor who is reviewing the summary of my case, it's been a while since I heard back from him so I will be following up on that this week.

I don't know what else to do now while I'm still working there. The HR department washed their hands of me and the follow up meetings I was supposed to have just never happened.

I'm looking around for another job because I can't stay in that office, it's like I'm working under duress, it's all very unnatural and I can't relax in that environment. That woman is arrogant and to be honest I keep thinking she's going to do something similar again. I go to work because I care about my job but this whole incident has set me back.

Thanks again for the support.

Its unfortunate that you feel your company is not offering you the support that you need. However I would hold off agreeing to anything legally at this point (which also seems to be the uneducated default advice people give on these forums). You are not under any pressure or immediate time constraint to have to involve solicitors and IMO its not a point that requires a solicitor. Going legal is only ever a last resort and its not yet clear whether this case, should it get that far, falls into the category of requiring a employment law specialist or an injury lawyer.

When you say the HR dept "washed their hands" of you, what do you mean? Have you contacted them since? Where was the last meeting left with them? What were the actions? Have you flagged any concerns with HR about the way your feel you are being treated?

I recommend you start by following up with HR rather than following up with your solicitor, and arrange a follow up meeting. There could be a perfectly simple explanation as to why they have not followed up with you so dont jump to conclusions yet.

Dont forget to document everything.

xband

The main thing is don't take advice from anyone other than someone who is a healthcare professional who knows about tinnitus.

My own experience is a lot of GPs were extremely dismissive of it or think you're "stressed" etc etc

There's been a lot of totally dismissive misinformation posted further back up this thread about infections and so on.

Sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

If you've any issues with managing tinnitus try getting in touch with the Irish Tinnitus Association.

https://www.deafhear.ie/DeafHear/irishTinnitusAssociation.html

They've a lot of solid information and contacts.

Bear in mind is a LOT of people have tinnitus for various reasons. So, ask around and get advice.

Once you know what it is and come up with the best techniques for dealing with it, it's perfectly manageable!

Fingers crossed yours is just temporary tho!

faceman

xband wrote: »

If you've any issues with managing tinnitus try getting in touch with the Irish Tinnitus Association.

https://www.deafhear.ie/DeafHear/irishTinnitusAssociation.html

They've a lot of solid information and contacts.

The Irish Tinnitus Assocation aren't great. The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) are far better, both from a resource and information perspective.

http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/

xband

Just to give you a sense of how this sounds (don't listen to this if you do have tinnitus)

This is basically what I'm listening to across everything for the last 15 years.

It's *far* from a trivial issue!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HIfqyHbKgY

You can see how it occasionally gets annoying.

I've found it really handy for tuning guitars tho! It's a steady reference tone in my case anyway lol

I think though it is actually worth listening If you've no idea what it sounds like. It's no joke of a condition!

---

faceman wrote: »

The Irish Tinnitus Assocation aren't great. The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) are far better, both from a resource and information perspective.

http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/

Bigger organisations generally are.
There's a lot of good stuff happening though with tech and masking.

col.in.Cr

Reminds me of this incident :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8OrE_wVU_4

December2012

xband wrote: »

Just to give you a sense of how this sounds (don't listen to this if you do have tinnitus)

This is basically what I'm listening to across everything for the last 15 years.

It's *far* from a trivial issue!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HIfqyHbKgY

You can see how it occasionally gets annoying.

I've found it really handy for tuning guitars tho! It's a steady reference tone in my case anyway lol

I think though it is actually worth listening If you've no idea what it sounds like. It's no joke of a condition!

---


Bigger organisations generally are.
There's a lot of good stuff happening though with tech and masking.

I played that track. Had to stop it after 1 second. That's awful. What a condition to suffer!

Amsteresident

Thank you to those who have posted, and to those who understand: thanks for reaching out and showing me that I am not, in fact, going insane.

I have submitted every thing to the solicitor finally, emails, pictures of the inflatable packaging, and the incident report itself (filled in by the manager herself - there was a part on it that said "How can this type of incident be prevented in future?" and the answer she wrote was "Not bursting things into employee's ear"). I don't know what the solicitor will make of that.

The solicitor said that while this is straight-cut violation of their duty of care to the employee, apparently they need them to admit liability. I'm not sure how else they can do that, the emails and incident report and doctor visits are as clear as the light of day as far as I can see.

I followed one poster's advice and pushed for a meeting with HR which I had this week, but they were not concerned about my ear. This time it was almost insulting. They were asking about the environment in the office, as other members of staff have noticed the tension. When I mentioned my ear and the numerous appointments I am having to attend/lack of sleep/distress, they just came back with more questions about possible meetings/negative atmosphere. So I don't think I will bother contacting them again, as it was blatantly obvious they are playing this down completely.

Anyway, that's all the updates I have for now.

OldMrBrennan83

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OldMrBrennan83

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brightspark

Amsteresident wrote: »

I followed one poster's advice and pushed for a meeting with HR which I had this week, but they were not concerned about my ear. This time it was almost insulting. They were asking about the environment in the office, as other members of staff have noticed the tension. When I mentioned my ear and the numerous appointments I am having to attend/lack of sleep/distress, they just came back with more questions about possible meetings/negative atmosphere. So I don't think I will bother contacting them again, as it was blatantly obvious they are playing this down completely.

Anyway, that's all the updates I have for now.

Be aware that HR are there to protect the company not you (remember it's the company paying them!)

But you should follow company procedures, that way you are removing any defence they might have about them not offering a satisfactory solution to your situation.

Not sure if you are in a union, but the union solicitors tend to be more knowledgable about the law in this area than your average solicitor who usually handles conveyancing etc.

Stealthfins

There's always a so called clown in every company.
Usually they go too far with their attention seaking and end up really harming someone's physical or mental health.
They are more of a liability than an asset.
They are usually charming,attractive and popular.
Kinda all happy and funny with most,licking managers asses,bitching about others.

Then they're a walking contradiction,as they are low in self-esteem,every body else is the butt of their jokes.

If I were you I'd throw the book at them,because if you did something similar to the clown they'd all rally around mister Dishy Dave and you'd be the bad bastard....

Probably be driven out of your job due to everyone rejecting you and giving you the silent treatment....

You need your hearing,so if I were you I'd be putting them on the stand and let everyone know how irresponsible Crusty the clown is....

Go for it...

Stealthfins

brightspark wrote:

Be aware that HR are there to protect the company not you (remember it's the company paying them!)

Seriously if I was working in hr and this was happening in my company I'd be sorting out health and safety courses.

A good enough Barrister could close this company down,the compensation could rack up to a 6 figure sum.
That's if the damage is for life.

Also you'd have enough to re educate yourself and live comfortably while back studying.

I wish the OP luck

faceman

brightspark wrote: »

Be aware that HR are there to protect the company not you (remember it's the company paying them!)

But you should follow company procedures, that way you are removing any defence they might have about them not offering a satisfactory solution to your situation.

Not sure if you are in a union, but the union solicitors tend to be more knowledgable about the law in this area than your average solicitor who usually handles conveyancing etc.

This kind of advice is not helpful and misleading.

What are you basing your comment "HR are there to protect the company and not you" on?

Solicitors and law firms that deal with employment law are the relevant part of the legal sector that deal with work issues. What are "Union solicitors" and why are you suggesting that non Union solicitors just deal with "conveyance etc"

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

faceman

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

You're painting an image that it has to be either/or, which does not reflect the reality or the role of a HR department in a company governed by irish law. Obviously notwithstanding incompetency by a company etc.

faceman

Stealthfins wrote: »

A good enough Barrister could close this company down,the compensation could rack up to a 6 figure sum.
That's if the damage is for life.

As a tinnitus sufferer I would love to think that 6 figures is appropriate but unfortunately its extremely unlikely. For employment law issues, the court takes into consideration whether an employee is still in employment at the firm or elsewhere and loss of earnings/potential loss of earnings as a result of the issue, which is calculated in line with salary.

Regarding in the injury, using the claims that the Irish military and the government went through a number of years ago, I believe they treated tinnitus claims similar to nuisance claims. Im only quoting from memory, i think the payouts for tinnitus were only a few thousand.

As a point of interest, why do you think a barrister could close the company down??

runawaybishop

faceman wrote: »

You're painting an image that it has to be either/or, which does not reflect the reality or the role of a HR department in a company governed by irish law. Obviously notwithstanding incompetency by a company etc.

It reflects the reality of every company I have ever worked for tbh, HR has always been company first, employee second. I would not rely on HR to provide good advice/guidance when the company is at fault, merely the minimum provided for in law.

NUTLEY BOY

Just fell across this thread. Not legal advice. Just a few observations relating to general principles.

The manager was negligent in what she did. She is personally liable for her negligence. The employer is vicariously liable for her negligence during the course of work.

I cannot see a charge of assault sticking. There would be a problem in reaching the required standard of proof of malice even if you could establish recklessness.

The OP was quite correct to retain a solicitor. The primary purpose of consulting a solicitor is to ascertain your rights and responsibilities in a problem situation. This does not imply that a person is engaging in "ambulance chasing" or anything like to it.

As far as the injury goes remember that there are two dimensions to it. There is tinnitus which is quite capable of being inflicted in one incident and of being permanent. Secondly, there may be hearing loss which is concurrent. These are matters which an audiologist and then an ENT consultant should be able to assess as at present. Additionally, an ENT consultant should be able to offer a prognosis.

A judge will assess damages by reference primarily to the medical evidence. There will be two - possibly three- elements to this assessment. Firstly, the judge will assess pain and suffering to date. Secondly, if the medical evidence is that the tinnitus and or hearing loss will be permanent, there will be an additional award for pain and suffering (and possible future loss of earnings) in to the future. Thirdly, there will be an award of financial losses to date such as medical expenses, lost earnings and so on.

By now it should be clear to some that this is no joke.

I am not a medic. However, I had an interesting discussion last year with an ENT registrar about a tinnitus case. It will suffice to say that there is a woeful lack of appreciation of just how insidious a condition it can be even if the level of noise is moderate. It is the incessant nature of the symptom that can prove to be so wearing and detrimental.

In short, people should have a bit more respect for what has been inflicted on the OP by another person albeit unintentionally.

What about those HR guys - a great bunch of lads altogether. They are the ones who will tell you that an employee is a company's greatest asset.:rolleyes: Yawn. They will not tell you that if that employee looks like becoming a financial liability the HR crew will be become like white blood cells attacking an infection until you - the problem - have been flushed away.

I assume that the employer has employers' liability insurance. BTW, it is not compulsory. If they have it you may find that they are currently running the show in the background. It is the insurers who will decide if liability is going to be conceded.

OP should present his claim to the PIAB. Their jurisdiction covers employers' liability cases. If the employer / insurer concedes liability PIAB can then proceed to assess damages. If the employer wants to contest liability the case goes to court. OP be aware that PIAB does not pay legal costs.

The insurance position might be what is influencing the manager and HR in their present attitudes. It is probably a condition of the policy that they make no admissions of any kind. You might get an apology when the case is disposed of.

I see mention of possibly moving jobs. IMHO that would be a big mistake tactically. I suggest "Keep calm and carry on" until the matter is actually settled and then decide, under no pressure, what you might like to do.

As far as that manager goes she should have received a formal warning at least.

Out of curiosity, as far back as 1957 there is case law that employers are negligent in failing to dismiss a perpetual prankster who injures fellow employees. This would probably not be allowed these days but the sentiment is right .

OP, you have had a rotten misfortune imposed on you. You have rights. I wish you well with it.

brightspark

faceman wrote: »

This kind of advice is not helpful and misleading.

What are you basing your comment "HR are there to protect the company and not you" on?

Solicitors and law firms that deal with employment law are the relevant part of the legal sector that deal with work issues. What are "Union solicitors" and why are you suggesting that non Union solicitors just deal with "conveyance etc"

I already explained, but I'll repeat it again...the company pays the HR departments wages, while some more foresighted companies are genuinely interested in their employees well being, most unfortunately want to do the minimum, and minimise any potential claims etc.

I also did not suggest that non Union solicitors just dealt with conveyancing, solicitors just like many others specialise in certain areas, sometimes it's important to find a specialist. There are obviously non Union solicitors who are experts in employment law.

the_syco

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

As I said, seeing a solicitor should be a last resort, that isn't to say it is something that shouldn't be visited, but rather only when other options have failed.

The OP should seek the help of a solicitor to ensure they don't shoot themselves in the foot over something they need to rely on at a later stage.

Thus far, I have found HR to always be helpful to me, but I am under no illusions that the HR's job is to protect the company.

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

The bigger picture of your career also needs to be considered.

Tinnitus is for life, and can sometimes change what career the person is able to do, and how they can interact with people for the rest of their life.

=-=

To help you sleep, check out these noise emitting products; https://www.deafhear.ie/DeafHear/searchShop.html?who=tinnitus
Have found DeafHear to be good with hearing advice, although I'm sure there are other good shops as well.

Amsteresident

Hi all, it's been a long time since I posted here. Since I was on last: the company let me go In February. They gave me 2 weeks notice. I'm not based in Ireland, but holland.
My witness to the case changed his story, now he's saying that whole he saw the inflatable packaging beside my head he knows it burst but he didn't see that part.
The defence are not giving up without a fight. I have the email where my manager wrote what they did, but they're looking for the insurance companies to admit liability and are not doing that without putting up a fight.
My witness changed his story and won't point the finger directly at the manager. He's dancing around the fact which leaves me in a bad position somewhat. He cannot be a reliable witness if he doesn't say "that person did that to the other person and I saw it ".
Anyway. Long story short. It looks like despite the fact that I have tinnitus, and anxiety as a result. I had to spend 2 months jobless and now I face the prospect of paying for a case that's probably going to be thrown out because the witness turned his back.
I'm going mad. And I can't believe I hired a lawyer and this happened.

granturismo

Amsteresident wrote: »

...
The defence are not giving up without a fight. I have the email where my manager wrote what they did, but they're looking for the insurance companies to admit liability and are not doing that without putting up a fight.
.... And I can't believe I hired a lawyer and this happened.

Sorry to hear your witness had a memory lapse.

Your employers legal team are just doing their job.

You have a medical cert with tinnitus and stress as the cause of medical leave and emails from your employer backing up your claim.

So many cases are 'settled on the steps' on the day of court. Its a pi''ing contest between the opposing legal teams to see who'll back down first, they might wait and see which judge is presiding.

Amsteresident wrote: »

.... I have the email where my manager wrote what they did, but they're looking for the insurance companies to admit liability and are not doing that without putting up a fight.
...

IF you win, its not your sides responsibility to decide who pays any award, thats for the employer and the insurance company to fight out.

How confident are you in your legal representation?