What counts as a work injury
An injury to employed persons, an occupational disease or other damage to health is considered a work injury if it occurred in connection with the performance of a work duty. The law explains this concept concretely: the damage is considered work-related if it occurred on the territory of an enterprise, institution or organization — the employer — regardless of its organizational-legal form, or outside its bounds in the performance of a work duty, and likewise in the case of travel to the workplace or return from work by transport allocated by the employer.
The practical significance of this definition is that the status of a work injury opens the way to determining the percentage of the degree of loss of professional work capacity, which in turn is connected with benefits and compensation. It is therefore decisive to establish precisely the circumstances of the damage: where it occurred — on the employer's territory, outside its bounds in the performance of a duty, or during travel in the employer's transport.
What documents are required at the first examination
A victim undergoing examination for the first time, or his or her representative, must submit to the establishment the following documents:
- the application of the administration of the employer, or of the professional union, where the work injury was received, or an application to the court (a court decision);
- an act of the accident or another document on the damage to health received through the work injury (a conclusion of a representative of the corresponding state supervision body);
- in the case of an occupational disease — the conclusion of a medical establishment.
This list of documents is complete: these provisions contain no rule requiring any further document. If the issuance of a document is refused, the remaining path is an application to the court, whose decision likewise counts as one of the grounds for the examination.
Professional work capacity and the main profession
Professional work capacity is a person's ability to perform work of a specified qualification and volume with appropriate quality. In determining the degree, it is decisive which profession is considered the main one: if the victim has several professions, the main profession, at his or her choice, is considered to be the one in which the victim worked at the time of the work injury, or the one in which he or she has long work experience, and likewise the profession in which the highest qualification was granted. For a student who received a work injury during production practice, the main profession is considered to be the one in which he or she is studying.
Certificates concerning the victim's work activity, working conditions and the character of the work performed are clarified by the establishment on the basis of information requested from the workplace and from the body exercising the corresponding sanitary supervision. This once again confirms that the determination of the degree is not a purely medical question — it also rests on working conditions.
The 100 percent and 70 percent criteria
In determining the degree of loss of professional work capacity, the law fixes clear thresholds. If the victim has an expressed disorder of the function of the body, which makes the performance of any work impossible or hinders it — including in specially created conditions — the loss of professional work capacity is set at 100 (one hundred) percent. And if the victim is able to perform work only in specially created conditions, the loss of professional work capacity is determined at not less than 70 (seventy) percent.
The determination of the degree takes into account the consequences of the work injury. If, as a result of the work injury, a previously existing disease was aggravated, the degree of loss of work capacity is determined on the basis of the expression of the disorder of the body's function caused by it, taking into account the pre-existing impairments. This means that a previously existing disease does not reduce the degree: both the earlier and the new impairments will be taken into account.
Repeated work injuries
In the case of a repeatedly received work injury, the degree of loss of professional work capacity is determined in percentages for each work injury separately, regardless of whether the injury occurred during work with the same or with different employers. Thus each injury is fixed and assessed separately, which prevents one damage from being "written over" another.
Determination of the degree for the whole period and the terms of re-examination
The establishment determines the degree of loss of professional work capacity for the whole period from the day the work injury was received, regardless of when the victim applied to the establishment or to the employer, or from the day of expiry of the term of the previously determined degree of loss of professional work capacity for the whole period, if a ground for this exists. This rule gives the degree retroactive force: a late application must not shorten the period during which the degree applies for the victim.
Upon determination of the degree, the re-examination of the victim in the establishment takes place after 6 months, or after 1 or 2 years, taking into account the character of the work injury and the possibilities of full or partial restoration of work capacity as a result of medical, social and labor rehabilitation. The choice of the concrete term among these variants depends on the assessment of the expertise.
Communication of the results: to the employer, to the court, and by hand
An extract from the examination act concerning the results of the determination of the degree of loss of professional work capacity and the need for additional assistance is sent to the employer or to the court on whose application the victim underwent the examination. The certificate of the results of the examination is given to the victim or his or her representative by hand. The recipients thus differ: the employer or the court receives the extract, while the victim receives the certificate in person.