Don’t let the employer decline his responsibilities!

An injured seafarer wrote to the Central-West Siberian Territorial Organization of the Seafarers’ Union of Russia and asked for support. He was serving on the Russian flagged vessel and couldn’t get disability compensation from his employer.

The seafarer used to work at a tanker. One day when he was cleaning oil tanks – which means heat and enclosed space, – the man hit his knee joint against the wall. Yet he continued to work in spite of hurting knee.

Later on the man felt a bad pain in the damaged knee and was repatriated. Accompanied by another crew member he came to Moscow and then left for Saransk region. There he got treatment and was diagnosed to have bursitis which occurred due to the injury.

Unfortunately the shipowner did not organize an examination of the injury on board thus violating Articles 227-231 of the Russian Labour Code. He didn’t make any reports including Industrial Accident Act (N-1 Form) and didn’t pay disability compensation either.

Currently, the employer would not fulfill his contractual obligations alleging the case to be not an industrial accident but an illness.

Now the seafarer has two choices. Either he can apply to the State Inspection at the shipowner’s location, and write a detailed interpretation of the accident so as to demand the shipowner to duly make a report (in the aforementioned N-1 form) and pay the compensation; or, in case the State Inspection would not make a decision in favour of the seafarer, he can apply to the Transport Prosecutor’s Office or to a court

In both cases the Central-West Siberian Territorial Organization is ready  to give support to the seafarer. But strangely the man is not willing to finally visit the union which has already prepared all the necessary documents.

The SUR is warning against such inactive role in protection of one’s own rights which actually helps the employer to evade the law and therefore, to his impunity. Should there be a similar situation, nothing would prevent the shipowner to follow the trodden path once again.