In January 28 and May 3, 2008 the Court in First Instance in Curaçao rendered judgments in different cases regarding work-related accidents.

In these cases the employer did not comply with his obligation of making sure that a safety report was compiled after a work-related accident in which an employee got injured. Such a report must provide a description of the accident from which can be ascertained with near certainty if, and to what extend the accident is caused by the fact that insufficient measures had been taken to prevent the accident. The consequence of not complying with this obligation will generally be that the claim of the employee will be sustained.
 

This means that even though it hasn’t been established that the accident was caused by carelessness of the employer, the employer will still be held responsible for the accident and the sustained damage of the employee due to the fact that the employer did not make sure that a safety report was compiled after the accident.

At the moment there is a similar case pending in which the judgment will be rendered on September 28, 2008.

In these cases the employees were represented by Roelof Bijkerk from Van de Laarschot & Associates, Attorneys at law.