Dealership worker loses ACC appeal

A car dealership’s finance manager who was assaulted with a taser at work has lost an appeal for ACC compensation.

The man, whose name is suppressed, was working at a dealership in 2020 when two people entered his office and attacked him.

He was tasered, punched in the head up to 20 times and pushed into a corner during the incident, reports the NZ Herald.

A recent decision from the district court says ACC accepted a claim from the man for post-concussion syndrome, contusion of the eye and a lumbar sprain.

He returned to the dealership in December 2020 to work on a limited basis but continued to struggle with his injuries and concentration.

The man also told a psychiatrist he thought he was going to die during the attack and ACC approved cover for PTSD and depression.

In 2022, a GP noted the man still had significant back pain and certified him as only able to work for eight hours a week.

The next year an occupational physician said the victim could handle sedentary light work and suggested he return to his finance manager job.

ACC stopped paying the man weekly compensation a few months later, but his application to review the decision was successful and payments resumed.

In July 2024, a GP then diagnosed the man as having a disc prolapse injury. ACC rejected a new claim for that and said the resulting back pain was unlikely to be because of the 2020 incident.

His case was reviewed by ACC’s clinical advisory panel in October last year, which supported the crown entity’s decision, reports the NZ Herald.

The man appealed ACC declining cover for the lumbar disc prolapse with radiculopathy, but the district court dismissed this in March this year. He still receives ACC support for his claim from 2020.