A COUNCIL worker was awarded more than £20,000 after suffering "bruising to the rear" slipping on an office floor.
This is one of six compensation claims which have cost Reigate and Banstead Borough Council tens of thousands of pounds over the last five years.
The authority is currently dealing with four ongoing claims. One involves an office worker who says they were exposed to a piercing noise from a telephone, while another centres around a refuse collector who claims to have suffered a foot injury slipping on an ungritted road.
The two other claims focus on a cemetery worker who allegedly suffered a head and arm injury falling from a dumper, and a refuse collector who is said to have lost a thumb to a bin lift.
In 2008 the council was forced to pay out £16,365 to an employee who suffered a back injury while lifting something in a vehicle workshop. And in 2009, another worker won £23,130 after slipping on an office floor which caused "bruising to the rear".
Members of the public condemned the claims as "ridiculous" and "unnecessary" and said workers were claiming for things most people wouldn't think about.
Retiree Richard Mayes, 68, who was shopping in Redhill, said: "This is ridiculous and they really don't need to do it. It wouldn't have happened where I used to work."
Office worker Cameron Johnson, 27, added: "Things like this are fine if it's a serious injury, but £23,000 for a bruise is a joke. I would never even think to claim for that. It's really unnecessary."