Labour leader Phil Goff today accepted a petition with more than 5500 signatures calling on Parliament to repeal ACC's minimum threshold for hearing injuries.
The National Foundation for the Deaf petition seeks to repeal ACC legislation introduced last year that set a 6 percent hearing loss threshold before a noise injury claim would be considered by ACC, restricting people's access to rehabilitation and hearing aids.
Mr Goff will table the petition with 5552 signatures in Parliament today on behalf of the foundation.
Foundation chief executive Louise Carroll said the threshold was discriminatory and a breach of human rights.
"It has no regard for individual needs and is creating distortions in the way medical specialists are assessing injuries, forcing them to make mathematical calculations instead of clinical judgements," she said.
"What this petition asks for is for each case to be judged on its merits."
Noise damages the high tones range of hearing that people need to understand speech in everyday background noise, but because of the way hearing was measured, it took a lot of such damage to get 6 percent hearing loss.
Mrs Carroll said hearing damage was the only injury that must meet a fixed threshold before ACC would accept the claim.
"ACC is using a blunt instrument to deal with this. They are looking at the financial cost instead of the human cost," Mrs Carroll said.
"As far as we are concerned this is bullying at an institutional level, and we are grateful to Phil Goff for accepting the petition on our behalf."
NZPA