Tesco Employee Coronavirus-Related Claims Against A Tesco Supermarket

I Contracted COVID-19 At Work Due To A Lack Of PPE, Could I Claim Compensation?

Have you contracted COVID-19 while working for Tesco and believe it could have been prevented if your employer had taken better care of your health and safety at work? Whether you are a member of Tesco’s store staff, distribution staff or warehouse staff, if you feel that adequate COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) could have prevented you contracting the illness, but it was not made available to you, you could be eligible to make a Tesco coronavirus claim for the pain and suffering you’ve experienced as well as any financial harm you’ve suffered.

This guide covers information about the coronavirus pandemic itself, the symptoms you may have suffered, and the types of COVID-19 personal protective equipment that could help to prevent a key worker contracting the illness. Also included is information about the provision of PPE according to health and safety guidelines, and how your employer could be at fault for you falling ill if you have not been provided with PPE, or if you have been provided with inadequate equipment. If you would like to check your eligibility to make a claim for coronavirus contracted at work, or you believe you are ready to begin a claim, why not call Legal Expert today on 0800 073 8804 for guidance and support.

Select A Section

• A Guide To Employee Coronavirus Related Claims Against Tesco
• What PPE Equipment Should Supermarket Staff Be Issued?
• What Rights Do I Have If I Can’t Work Due To COVID-19?
• What PPE Should Customer Facing Staff Be Equipped With?
• What PPE Should Distribution Staff Be Equipped With?
• What PPE Should Cleaning Staff Be Equipped With?
• How To Claim If You Were Not Properly Instructed In Using PPE
• Calculating Compensation Claims Against Tesco For Coronavirus Contracted In The Workplace
• Special Damages Which May Be Included In Your Claim
• No Win, No Fee Claims For COVID-19 Contracted In The Workplace
• Why Choose Legal Expert To Handle Your Claim?
• Start A Claim For Coronavirus Contracted In The Workplace
• Essential References

A Guide To Employee Coronavirus Related Claims Against Tesco

Are you, or were you working as a key worker for Tesco during the coronavirus pandemic? Have you received a COVID-19 diagnosis, and feel your infection could have been prevented if your employer had given you PPE to protect you, or shown you how to use coronavirus PPE correctly? Were social distancing rules at work not enforced, or were you told to work when you should have been isolating at home? If you feel that you could have contracted COVID-19 due to negligent health and safety practices, the below guide could offer some useful information on whether you could make a Tesco coronavirus claim.

To successfully make a claim, it’s important to establish three things:

1. You had or have a confirmed diagnosis of coronavirus, and not just coronavirus symptoms.
2. You can link the development of the virus to your time at work.
3. The development of the virus was the result of your employer’s breach of duty in not supplying you with any or adequate PPE. 

In the sections below, you will find information relating to PPE considerations during the coronavirus pandemic, and how an employer could protect staff from undue risks in the workplace. Also included are details of the damages that could be claimed for if you’ve suffered coronavirus due to your employer’s negligence.

What Is Coronavirus?

Coronavirus is a highly-infectious disease sweeping the globe. There are many forms of coronavirus, but the one that relates to this pandemic has been called COVID-19. Scientists believe that the virus may have originated in Wuhan, China. It has since spread across the globe, affecting many countries. This particular coronavirus can cause pneumonia-like symptoms, and in some cases, can lead to death. The UK Government is regularly issuing coronavirus advice on who should and should not leave their homes and for what reasons, in order to prevent the spread of the disease. While many people are being asked to work from home where possible, some industries are classed as vital, and these include those businesses that sell food, including supermarkets.

However, supermarkets, by law, are required to protect their staff from reasonable risks while they are working. This means they should risk assess who should and should not be working for them during the pandemic, and they should look at trying to reduce the risk for those who are working for them throughout the pandemic and beyond.

What PPE Equipment Should Supermarket Staff Be Issued?

According to the government, some key workers should be provided with respiratory protective equipment at work. However, this advice is targeted mostly at healthcare workers. When it comes to determining what PPE equipment could be appropriate for distribution staff and store staff working for Tesco or other supermarkets, proper risk assessments may give rise to the requirement for PPE to reduce risk such as:

• Gloves
• Face screens
• Hand sanitizer
• Aprons
• Protective screens

Where COVID-19 PPE is deemed appropriate, it should also be:

• Fitted correctly
• Located close to the point of use
• Stored in a way that protects it from contamination
• Clearly defined as single/sessional use
• Changed where appropriate after tasks that require it
• Disposed of according to the correct procedures

You should also be shown how to correctly use any PPE for coronavirus you have had issued.

What Rights Do I Have If I Can’t Work Due To COVID-19?

If you are unable to work due to COVID-19 you may be wondering whether you would be entitled to coronavirus work pay, despite not being able to attend work as usual.

If you don’t have the virus

If you are unable to work due to a family member suffering symptoms of coronavirus, or you are self-isolating because it could be possible that you have the virus, you could be entitled to receive statutory sick pay for each day you are in isolation. You do not need a GP note to prove this. You can get an isolation note online. If you do not have symptoms but you are isolating, you could be asked to work from home if it is possible for you to do so.

If you have the virus

If you are suffering from symptoms of the virus, whether due to a lack of coronavirus PPE or because you have contracted the virus in another way, the government rules on statutory sick pay (SSP) mean that you could receive SSP from the first day you are off work. If your wage is less than £120 per week, you could also access further financial support, including Contributory Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit.

If, however, your employer has their own sick pay policy relating to the coronavirus pandemic, you may be paid more than SSP. It could be a good idea to check what your employer’s rules are for key workers who are off work with coronavirus so that you can ensure you are getting the appropriate pay while you are off sick. If you have contracted the virus due to your employer’s negligence with regards to health and safety at work, you could include loss of earnings within a Tesco coronavirus claim.

What PPE Considerations Could Tesco Take?

As part of Tesco’s duty of care, they could conduct risk assessments not only to determine who could continue to work for them but also to determine what PPE could be required.

For example, risk assessing staff could mean that staff who are shielding due to medical advice would not be able to attend work. Those who are considered to be high-risk (pregnant women, those over 70, or under 70 with specific health issues such as chronic heart disease and asthma, for example) are also required to stringently follow social distancing guidelines. Consideration should be given as to whether these members of staff could attend work safely.

Some of the actions that a supermarket such as Tesco could take to protect staff could include:

• Asking customers to pay only by card
• Providing a protective screen for checkout staff
• Operating reduced hours so that appropriate cleaning can be done to prevent the spread of coronavirus
• Reducing the customers allowed in-store at any one time to help with social distancing
• Provide staff with hand sanitizer, gloves, face masks, and any other appropriate COVID-19 personal protective equipment.

Any new safety measures implemented by Tesco should be communicated clearly so that they can be implemented quickly and safely. If this is not done, it may mean some store staff or distribution staff could be more at risk than others.

What PPE Should Customer Facing Staff Be Equipped With?

As part of your employers PPE considerations, it may be assessed that there could be equipment provided to reduce the risk of contracting coronavirus, especially for customer-facing workers. This could include a protective screen, which could provide a barrier between staff and customers to protect from saliva. In other cases, it might be deemed appropriate for customer-facing workers to wear face masks, gloves, or be given hand sanitizer.

Whatever COVID-19-related PPE is issued to customer-facing staff, it must be fit for use, and the employee must be taught to use it properly. If you believe that inadequate PPE or inadequate training in how to use PPE has caused you to contract COVID-19, you may wish to get advice on whether you could be entitled to make a Tesco coronavirus claim.

What PPE Should Distribution Staff Be Equipped With?

Distribution staff could also be at risk of contracting coronavirus due to having to handle products that may have become contaminated with the virus. Tesco, as an employer, should ensure that staff are aware of the current advice regarding safety and that they are following social distancing rules at work. In addition to this, it may be deemed appropriate for Tesco to issue distribution staff with gloves, facemasks and other PPE for COVID-19 risk reduction. If this is not issued where it would have been deemed appropriate to do so, and you contract the virus at work, then you may wish to check your eligibility to claim compensation.

What PPE Should Cleaning Staff Be Equipped With?

According to Unison, those staff whose work involves cleaning areas that may have been contaminated by coronavirus, should, as a minimum, be provided with gloves and a disposable apron. While this advice relates primarily to the healthcare sector, it may be deemed appropriate for cleaning staff in a supermarket to be issued with PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How To Claim If You Were Not Properly Instructed In Using PPE

If PPE is issued to a worker, they must be taught how to use it properly. For example, if a member of staff is not shown how to dispose of gloves or other PPE properly, it could put other workers at risk of touching contaminated objects. In addition to this, if you were asked to wear a facemask, you should be shown how to adjust it appropriately, and how long to wear it for.

You should also be instructed by an employer that you need to wash your hands thoroughly after donning and removing PPE. This is because contaminants could be present on their surfaces, and by washing your hands, you could remove any contaminants from your hands.

If you believe inadequate instructions were given to you with regards to using PPE, and you contracted the virus because of this, you could call us to check whether you could be eligible to claim compensation.

Calculating Compensation Claims Against Tesco For Coronavirus Contracted In The Workplace

Are you interested in knowing how much compensation you could be looking to receive for your claim? If so, you might have looked for a personal injury claims calculator online to give you an idea of your potential payout. However, the figures you would get from such a calculator would only ever be rough estimates. Let us explain why.

When general damages (designed to compensate you for suffering, pain and loss of amenity) are calculated for a personal injury claim, this is usually done by looking at the medical evidence obtained in a case. This medical evidence would include a report from an independent medical expert who you would have to see as part of your claim. They would review your medical notes, examine you and write a report detailing your injuries and prognosis. Only then could your claim be properly valued.

We understand that it might be frustrating not to know exactly how much your injuries could be worth, but there is a way you could get a rough idea of the level of compensation that could be appropriate. In the table below, we have taken some guideline payout brackets from the Judicial College Guidelines—a legal publication that solicitors, insurers and the courts use to help value claims—to provide figures for injuries that we feel could relate to this sort of claim. This could go some way towards giving you an inkling of how much your Tesco coronavirus claim could be worth.

Special Damages Which May Be Included In Your Claim

In addition to general damages, which we covered in the section above, you might also claim special damages for expenses you’ve incurred directly because of your COVID-19 injuries. These might include:

• Medical expenses – If you’ve had to pay for prescription medicines, or counselling or other medical care, these costs could be included in your claim.
• Travel costs – Travelling to medical appointments and appointments with your personal injury solicitor could also cost you money. If travel costs have been directly caused by your injuries, they could be included within your claim.
• Cost of care – Some injuries may require you to need someone to care for you at home. Care costs could also be claimed for as special damages.
• Loss of earnings – Did you need to stay off work to recover from your injuries? If so, you could have lost out on income. If this is the case, these losses could be claimed for as special damages. If you cannot return to your job because your injuries prevent you from doing so, future loss of income could also be claimed for.

To claim such special damages, you must have proof of any losses or costs you have incurred that directly relate to your injuries. Without this proof, you would not be able to claim for your costs or losses. It would be a good idea to keep any receipts, bills, bank statements or payslips relating to such losses so you can pass these to your personal injury lawyer for them to include such costs within your claim.

No Win, No Fee Claims For COVID-19 Contracted In The Workplace

It may be of interest for you to know that you could make a Tesco coronavirus claim without the need to pay legal fees upfront, or at any point during your claim. Instead, you could claim on a No Win, No Fee basis and pay your lawyer a small percentage of your compensation once your claim has been settled.  A No Win, No Fee claim would be documented with a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) that you would be expected to sign before your lawyer could start work on your claim. The CFA will confirm that you will not have to pay any fees upfront or during the claim and that if your claim is unsuccessful, you will not have to pay any of the fees your solicitor has incurred in pursuing your case. The CFA will also set out what happens in the event your claim succeeds. In such circumstances, your solicitor may seek a small contribution toward their costs. This is known as a success fee and would be deducted from the compensation awarded at the end of the claim. The success fee is legally capped so you would not have to worry that a large proportion of your payout would be taken up in legal fees.

If you would like to ask any questions about making a No Win, No Fee claim, we’d be happy to discuss this with you. Please do not hesitate to call us on 0800 073 8804 with your questions.

Why Choose Legal Expert To Handle Your Claim?

Here at Legal Expert, we understand that if you have suffered from the symptoms of coronavirus due to poor health and safety at work, you may be feeling confused about what you could do about it. Here at Legal Expert, we are here to help you. Not only could we provide answers to questions you might have about a COVID-19 claim as a key worker, but we could also provide a free, no-obligation check on your eligibility to claim.

If we believe you could have a valid claim for compensation for having contracted coronavirus in the workplace, we could also provide you with a specialist personal injury lawyer to assist you with a personal injury claim, whether you contracted the illness due to lack of PPE such as gloves, hand sanitizer, a face mask, or other COVID-19 personal protective equipment.

We have years of experience in helping claimants fight for compensation for various types of personal injury, and we understand that this could be a difficult and stressful time. We aim to take the stress out of the process, explaining things in simple terms with no confusing legal jargon. We want you to understand where you stand and what you could be entitled to, and we want to help you get the compensation your case deserves.

Our specially trained staff are on hand to answer any questions you might have about your Tesco coronavirus claim. Why not get in touch today to see where you stand and whether you could be entitled to claim?

Start A Claim For Coronavirus Contracted In The Workplace

Do you now feel ready to begin a Tesco coronavirus claim, or do you have further questions about your eligibility to claim for having contracted coronavirus in the workplace? Whatever your concerns or questions, we’re here to help. You can reach us through the live chat function, or by completing our contact form, or you can call us on 0800 073 8804. If you prefer, you can reach us via email, on info@legalexpert.co.uk. We could offer you an eligibility check, free advice, or provide you with a lawyer to help you begin a claim for compensation.

Essential References

HSE Information On Coronavirus PPE – Here, you can read information relating to the correct fitting of masks during the pandemic.

The Health And Safety At Work Act 1974 – This legislation relates to your employer’s responsibility towards employee health and safety.

GOV – Coronavirus Measures – COVID-19 PPE guidance is being regularly updated by the government. You can read advice here on PPE.

Claiming Against An Employer – Here, we give some general guidance on making a claim against an employer.

Inadequate PPE Claims – Here, you can see information relating to claims for injury caused by inadequate PPE.

Hazardous Materials Injury Claims – On this page, you can read guidance on claiming for injury. Caused by hazardous materials.

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Written by Jeffries

Edited by Billing