Construction Worker’s Compensation Battle Highlights Challenges for Injured Temps

By multiplying contracts in June 2018 to meet the needs of his family who was about to welcome a newborn, Amir Sahraoui, a delivery driver, was a thousand miles away from imagining that his life would take another turn.

A temporary employment agency assigned him to a major local company specializing in public works, reports France 3. His mission was to drive one of the trucks that, in the heart of Baillargues, transport the materials necessary for the renovation of a street.

However, on June 11, 2018, an accident occurred on the construction site as another worker was unloading the cargo of the "Mécalac" truck that Amir had just parked. "During the maneuver, a deafening noise made me jump. In the rearview mirror, I saw that one of the rear doors of the dump truck had moved. I immediately jumped out of my cab," he recounts.

As the two men were pressing the door, this 120-kilogram metal part came loose and fell on Amir’s wrist. Arrived at the Lapeyronnie hospital in Montpellier, on his own, the diagnosis reveals a "Wartenberg syndrome", which cannot be resolved.

As a result, Amir Sahraoui was declared unfit for the job of delivery driver more than a year after his accident, and benefits for three years from the status of disabled worker.

Unfortunately, the accident declaration was not recognized by the temporary employment agency. With the birth of the third child, the Sahraoui family lives only on the daily allowances paid by the Primary Health Insurance Fund.

"Even if the ends of the month are currently difficult, it is for them that I absolutely do not want to give up my fight," said Amir Sahraoui, who is fighting for the compensation to be obtained.