A 61 year old council worker who tripped and fell over a mop has been awarded £9,128 for falling and pulling a groin muscle.
A Freedom of Information Act has revealed that since 2007 the same council had paid around£1million in compensation to other workers for minor slips, trips and falls.
A teacher, carer, administrative assistant and a weed sprayer received £26,867 between them after falling off chairs.
A 53-year-old town hall admin assistant tripped over a 'protruding' dining table leg in 2010 and was handed £14,452.
The same year, a labourer was given £10,450 after he was working in the garden of a council house and fell into a hidden pond.
A 38-year-old woman housing assistant sued the council and won £16,500 in 2008 after falling because of a pothole in the work car park.
A water sports instructor, 25, was given £14,000 compensation after he slipped in a gap in a jetty walkway at a country park.
Claims by council employees have cost ratepayers in the town an average of £193,558 a year over the last five years.
Robert Oxley of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said Rotherham Council must cut down the number and cost of avoidable accidents.
He said that the bill for compensation was unacceptably high. Some cases of negligence was legitimate but the compensation culture across local government offices were a worrying factor.
Paying for an accident which could have been avoided with some common sense was not acceptable he added.
In other claims two home carers, aged 35 and 65, claimed £9,800 between them after being injured while moving a patient in bed in October 2008.
There have been different cases of compensation claims over the five year period amounting to hundreds and thousands of claims.
Deputy leader of the council Jahangir Akhtar said things do go wrong at times and the staff may incur a financial loss or suffer a personal injury. Each case is taken on merit and, in being fair to the employees, a legal liability arising is always accepted by the council he said.
The council prides itself on its risk assessment and health and safety policies and continues to invest in this area to maintain a good record and ensure the welfare and safety of the employees.
Examples of work being done include robust training processes for staff and raising awareness of the potential risks in the workplace.
The largest single payment was £212,211 to the family of road worker Gordon Duffield, 51, who was crushed to death by a tipper wagon in May 2007.