a phrase that you hear bandied about quite a bit is the phrase duty of care
the employers duty of care I meet many employees who talk about the employers
duty of care but they fail to understand what exactly is involved in the
legal duty of care from the employer or to what extent or how wide is that duty
of care what is the standard how does the employer discharge the duty of
care that's what I'm going to take a look at in this video
so we all understand the phrase duty of care it's a phrase that is bandied about
quite a lot it's well settled law that an employer owes a duty of care to the
employee there's no question about that however what extent is it? well the
courts have not laid down one single duty of care but they have recognized that it
will vary depending on the circumstances and it will vary depending on the employees
age experience knowledge what type of a job it is what risk there is and so on and
it is critical to succeed in a negligence claim for example a personal
injury claim for example against the employer to show that the employer has
failed to discharge his duty of care to put it very very simply an employer will
have discharged his duty of care if he knows what a reasonable and prudent
employer would do in the circumstances so provided that he's not reckless or
negligent provided he knows what a reasonable or prudent employer might do
almost certainly he will have discharged his duty of care now to dig a little bit
deeper and to get a little bit more granular in relation to the duty of care
owned by the employer the scope would generally be assessed under four
headings and they will be the provision of competent staff the provision of a
safe place of work the provision of proper equipment and the provision of
the safe system of work so once the employer has done these things that from
a legal perspective would probably see the employer discharging his duty of
care in other words the standard of care is whatever a reasonable and prudent
employer might do in the circumstances to take that a little bit further if you were
example out sick for quite a while and if you felt that the employer
was simply letting you "dangle" as it were and not showing any concern for you and
not asking you how you are and so on and so forth not specifically but that type
of thing would not necessarily show that the employer had failed in his legal
duty of care you might be disappointed you might be miffed and it may not be good
practice but from the point of view of discharging or failing to discharge the
duty of care the employer would not be in breach in my view for failing to
check on you or see how you were or when you might be likely to come back to work
so the duty of care is a specific standard that an employer owes to an
employee provided the employer acts reasonably and acts like a prudent
employer in the circumstances then it's likely that the employer would have
succeeded in discharging its duty of care hope you find this video useful if
nothing else it might just indicate the difference between the
legal standard for the duty of care and what people might in the ordinary course
of conversation and in the ordinary meaning of language described as a duty of care
and say oh he's an appalling employer he's not discharging his duty of care
towards me just because he doesn't ring up and see how I am or when I might be
back to work or send me get well wishes that's really nothing got to do with it
insofar as the duty of care is a legal standard and that's where it arises in
the question of a personal injury claim it arises in the question of a
negligence claim in relation to breach of contract and so on
hope you find this video useful if you do you might give us a thumbs up down
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youtube channel I attempt to explain in plain language various aspects of Irish
law and Irish business thanks for watching