HRC Accepts Case Against ACC Injury Threshold

MEDIA RELEASE

Human Rights Commission Accepts Case Against ACC Injury Threshold

Auckland, July 15 –

The Human Rights Commission has accepted The National Foundation for the Deaf combined cases submission that the ACC 6 percent injury threshold and age deduction scale are discriminatory on the grounds of age and disability.

Louise Carroll, Chief Executive of The National Foundation for the Deaf Inc said the main driver behind the threshold was to save money, and the law had no regard for the effects of hearing injury on people’s lives. “We believe every case should be judged on its merits, not according to an arbitrary and unvalidated formula,” she said.

“Under the threshold a person must have a total hearing loss of at least 6 percent before ACC will take the claim, and if the damage is less than 6 percent the claim is rejected.

“Noise attacks the tones of our hearing we use for speech discrimination, and the way different tones are rated, it can take a lot of damage in that area to get a total 6 percent loss.”

Mrs Carroll said that under the fixed age scale ACC deducted a percentage from an injured claimant’s hearing depending on their age – regardless of whether the person had age-related hearing loss or not. “The law takes no account of the fact we all react differently to damaging noise levels. The only fair and rational way of dealing with hearing injury claims is to treat them individually,” she said.

Mrs Carroll said The National Foundation for the Deaf, along with the rest of the hearing disability sector, lodged petitions against the threshold in November 2009, and despite almost universal opposition, the threshold came into effect on July 1, 2010.

“We’ve lodged this submission with the Human Rights Commission, and we are delighted that has now been accepted, as people with hearing impairment will now have a voice.”

Mrs Carroll said the next step would see the Human Rights Commission invite ACC to join mediation, and further action would depend on how ACC responded.

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