Portugal Lawyers · Accidents
Workplace Accidents
Accident liability, recovery and assessment of incapacity for work.
Liability
The accident is acknowledged, but liability is disputed?
The dispute is not always about whether an accident occurred. It may concern who must answer for its consequences and whether there are grounds to exclude or limit compensation.
The reasons raised may include a worker’s failure to follow safety rules, allegedly grossly negligent conduct, shortcomings in working conditions or issues concerning insurance cover. These situations have different consequences and require a case-specific analysis.
This is where Portugal Lawyers can assist.
We analyse the circumstances of the accident and the grounds put forward to deny or limit liability. As appropriate, we examine the instructions given to the worker, the training received, the protective equipment available and the connection between the alleged shortcomings and the accident.
Attributing an error to the worker does not, in itself, mean that they lose their right to compensation. Likewise, a safety failure attributable to the employer requires an assessment of its legal consequences and the obligations that remain with the insurer.
Our work is to clarify these responsibilities and, where there are grounds, challenge conclusions that undermine the worker’s rights.
Leave and recovery
Your leave has ended, but you are still unable to work?
During recovery from a workplace accident, clinical follow-up, treatment and recognition of incapacity are essential. Where pain, restricted movement or difficulty performing work tasks persists, it is important to establish whether the situation has been properly assessed.
Medical discharge may reflect recovery or stabilisation of the injuries, even where lasting effects remain. It is therefore necessary to distinguish ongoing treatment needs and temporary incapacity from permanent limitations that may affect the ability to practise a profession.
At Portugal Lawyers, we analyse these situations and their legal implications.
We examine the discharge report, medical reports and available tests, considering the actual demands of the job: lifting loads, standing, driving, using tools or performing repetitive movements, among others.
Where there are grounds, we assist with challenges to medical discharge or the assessed incapacity and pursue expert assessment through the legally available procedures. We seek proper consideration of the worker’s limitations and recognition of the treatment and benefits to which they are entitled.
If an accident-related relapse or deterioration occurs after discharge, we also assess the grounds for resuming care and reassessing incapacity.
Incapacity assessment
Does the assessed incapacity reflect your lasting injuries?
At Portugal Lawyers, we work with medical experts whom we ask to assess lasting injuries, analyse incapacity and evaluate it under Portugal’s National Table of Incapacities for Workplace Accidents and Occupational Diseases — TNI.
Their reasoned medical reports allow us to examine the assessment already made and, where justified differences are identified, support a challenge. We combine this medical analysis with legal representation to defend recognition of the worker’s limitations and the compensation due.