Compensate Bryon O’regan now
Bryon O’regan knows what it’s like to live in pain.
The former manufacturing worker was treated for a tumour in 1979 at Palmerston North Hospital. He suffered radiation poisoning and from 1981 experienced debilitating bouts of nausea and diarrhoea, forcing him off work for long periods.
ACC admits he would be entitled to compensation for these times, but there’s a catch. The corporation says the law requires O’regan to prove the impossible, that he was working at the ‘‘date of injury’’ 37 years ago, the age of Rob Muldoon and the Cold War.
O’regan’s then employer, Ace Bags of Palmerston North, has long since shut. Bank records don’t go that far back, nor do income tax archives.
O’regan has publicly appealed for anyone working at Ace Bags at the time to sign an affidavit saying they remember him.
In the past few days some former colleagues were found. However, they were of no use to O’regan as they didn’t work with him in 1979.
The true extent of the farcical hoops through which he must jump defy logic. Not only must a former colleague be found who worked with him almost four decades ago, they must themselves prove they worked at Ace Bags at the time.
Bearing in mind what O’regan’s going through to demonstrate he was on the firm’s payroll, this seems impossible.
Even if someone suitable does come forward, would they then need an affidavit from someone else to prove they worked there at the time. And what of the person who provides that? Another affidavit?
O’regan, who has no idea how much he could receive, has also been told he must find the exact dates of when his poisoning-induced illnesses kept him at home, and produce medical records.
Given he only found out in 2008 his suffering was because of his hospital treatment, he can be forgiven for not squirrelling away every payslip, doctor’s note and sickday record.
ACC’S rules about proof of work at the time of an injury have their place in contemporary claims. But like any rule, this one should be broken when the situation demands it, as this one does.
It’s not his fault the state has no tax records from 1979 and took 30 years to accept it was responsible for his medical troubles.
His plight will be considered by ACC’S weekly compensation panel. Let’s hope the panel agrees to compensate O’regan immediately.
Officials should cast aside the rigidity of the public-sector rule book and use their discretion to make a suitably sizeable payment, because O’regan’s suffering must stop.