We don’t usually look at personal injury matters in our employment updates, but this is an interesting case about an employee’s fraudulent claim following an accident at work.

Mr Hayward suffered a workplace injury in 1998 and brought a personal injury claim; Zurich admitted fault and so the question remaining was how much compensation should be paid to him.

Mr Hayward exaggerated his injuries and claimed £419,000. Zurich were able to show that he had exaggerated his injuries using undercover surveillance evidence and settlement was reached at £135,000.

Mr Hayward’s neighbours then tipped off Zurich that Mr Hayward was in fact fully recovered from his injuries by the time the settlement was reached! Zurich brought a claim to have the settlement agreement set aside on the basis that they would not have entered into the settlement agreement if it wasn’t for Mr Hayward’s misrepresentation of his injuries.

The court agreed with Zurich and said that Mr Hayward was only entitled to keep £14,720. This was a good result for Zurich, although it did take 18 years from admission of fault to the court’s decision!

We have seen in the past that the employment tribunal will accept undercover surveillance of employees in cases where the surveillance is carried out in a public place and the employee has lost any reasonable expectation of privacy due to their own dishonesty. However, care should be taken before tailing your staff and I’d recommend checking with a legal advisor or (in the case of a personal injury claim) your insurance provider.

Kate can be contacted at katebooth@eatonsmith.co.uk or on 01484 821 309.