In March 2017 the complainant, a teacher, was involved in a work accident. She filed with the Ministry of Education a National Insurance Institute (NII) form reporting her work injury. In May 2018, the complainant found out that the Ministry of Education had not sent the form to the NII as required, and she asked the Ministry to amend the omission so that she could receive work injury allowance (compensation paid to persons injured at work for their loss of income in the period during which they could not work).
After the complainant filled out the form a second time, the NII recognized the accident as a work accident. However, since the form had been submitted a year after the accident, the NII rejected the complainant's claim for retroactive work injury allowance.
The complainant consequently asked the Ministry of Education to restore to her the sick days that she had been forced to use, as the Ministry had not reported the work accident to the NII on time. Since her request was not answered, she contacted the Office.
The Ministry of Education initially rejected the complainant's request on the grounds that she, and not the Ministry, should have reported the accident to the NII. However, the Office informed the Ministry that the National Insurance (Work Accident Insurance) Regulations obligate the employer to report the work accidents of their employees to the NII, and to send to the NII the relevant forms. The Ministry consequently re-examined its standpoint and notified the Office that it would restore to the complainant the sick days that she had been forced to take in the period during which she had not worked because of the work accident.