A Dunnes Stores sales assistant, who suffered lacerations to her thumb from broken glass while removing rubbish, has been awarded €6,050 in compensation for a cut thumb at work.
Boguslawa Dzienia (38) from Galway made her claim for cut thumb at work compensation after sustaining her injury while helping to clear rubbish in the drapery stock room at the Dunnes Store Westside in Galway.
Boguslawa told Judge Matthew Deery at the Circuit Civil Court that she had been holding a plastic bag open while a colleague was putting another rubbish bag inside of it. However, a shard of glass caught the back of her thumb and lacerated it.
The court heard that Boguslawa had been taken to Galway University Hospital, where her thumb was x-rayed to ensure that there was no glass in the wound, which was cleaned and closed with glue.
However, Boguslawa had difficulty in writing and gripping objects because of her injury and, after seeking legal advice, she made a claim for cut thumb at work compensation against her employers.
Dunnes Stores denied negligence and liability for her injuries and contested the claim for a cut thumb at work on the grounds that the medical report had recorded a quarter of an inch laceration which required minimal care.
On hearing that the cut had healed completely, and the scar that remained could only be seen on very close inspection, Judge Deery awarded Boguslawa €6,050 in compensation for a cut thumb at work.