On Monday of this week I was in a meeting at work with about 20 or so colleagues. One of them had only just joined the company and was staying over in Manchester (head office) as he was based in the London office.

Unfortunately during the meeting this colleague had an epileptic fit, falling off his chair and banging his head. Our office first aider was on in the room in seconds, and asked for coats / jackets to be placed under his head to prevent him from injuring himself further. As my suit jacket was on top, it ended up being covered in blood.

Later that day I took the jacket to Timpsons to be dry cleaned, however they refused to take it as the blood hadn't fully dried, so returned it again on Wednesday. Yesterday I picked it up to find that most of the blood / saliva was still on the suit. Timpsons have offered to re-clean the jacket, however say that there's no guarantee it will come out.

I wasn't to bothered about the cost of cleaning the suit - A couple of pound is nothing compared to the guy having a fit and injuring himself, however I am a little bit more concerened if the jacket is ruined, seeing though it cost almost £200 only 3 months ago.

My question is, if the jacket / suit is ruined, who's responsible for replacing it? I don't want to come across as cold hearted, however I also don't want to be massively out of pocket.

Is it

My employer - They specify that you must wear a suit to work. The culture dictates that this is a nice suit and the phrase "look like your going to a wedding is often banded about. It was my work's first aider who placed the jackets under my colleagues head, as well as the presentation video (put together by the marketing team) without no warning of flashing lights which seemed to set his fit off.

My colleague - He was staying at head office for a week and didn't bring his epilepsy medication. He knew that he was prone to fits (as he said the following day) but didn't speak up when told we were going to watch some videos on the projector.

Me - That's life. Things happen beyond our control and I have to live with it.

As I say, I don't want to come across as harsh. I'm not particularly fussed paying £10 to have the jacket cleaned. I just don't want to be £200 out of pocket (more if the suit is no longer sold as the trousers would be useless without a jacket) when it wasn't my fault.

I'm going to wait until I get the jacket back from the cleaners for the second time before raising the issue with work.

Also, if you were in this position (had your clothing ruined) or my colleagues position regarding the ruining of someones suit what would you do?

Thanks in advance

Scott

Difficult issue. If the employer specifies a certain standard of dress then it would seem appropriate that they at least make a contribution.

Having said that it might also be argued that the medical episode was not of the employer's making. But would it be acceptable to speak to the injured colleague about the damage to your suit? Almost certainly not.

Probably the most sensitive course of action would be to have a quiet word with HR and ask for their advice. Stress that it is a sensitive subject which you don't want to make a major issue over, but that as that suit was ruined whilst at a work event, and through no fault of your own ans ask how they would propose that the suit can be replaced at as little cost to yourself.

Trick i used with dried blood on a coat.

Soak it in 60 degree water without any soap, just hot water.

Let it stay there for half hour, then rinse in the bath using shower head.

Most of it will come away.

Then repeat but this time with liquid detergent, the same one you use in the washing machine.

My coat came out perfect, I had to iron it, but was ok.

Be warned though, It's messy and given that it's not your own blood I don't know if you really want to go ahead with it.

it is your employers responsibility,

if you werent called to the meeting

you would not have been there

they placed you in that situation, regardless to the whatever you were or were not wearing.....

and regardless to if you were asked to help/provide help or not

it is your employers responsibility,

if you werent called to the meeting

you would not have been there

they placed you in that situation, regardless to the whatever you were or were not wearing.....

 

 

and regardless to if you were asked to help/provide help or not

Hmm not sure it's that clear cut.

Hopefully the employer will do the decent thing and replace the jacket though.

Wow, this is a really tricky situation. I completely sympathise with the position you are in.

My instinct is to say that the employer should replace the jacket. Although I'm not sure you could legally force them to replace it. I think it is worth having a quiet, sensitive word with HR or your boss about it.

I know that the law says

"equity doesn't aid a volunteer".

Since you provided the suit freely then you can't really ask for it to be replaced.

Whatever the legal grounds though, DON'T.

Someone is bound to gossip about it and you will see that it was not worth the few extra quid.

Let go

have to concur with the above, it is one of those events where there is no liability. Enquire with employer about a clothing allownace if you are required to wear a suit for work or alternatively you can claim tax relief via your self-assessment. You may have to bother the tax office about ths and they arent that good at provodong proper information if you havent claimed this sort of thing before, they only seem to be able to cope with adjyustments to existing records rather than new ones.