Suffered an occupational injury at home

According to The Guardian, on December 8, 2021 the Federal Social Court in Germany confirmed that an employee suffered a work-related injury at home when he fell on the way from his bed to his computer, and ruled that the remote worker is entitled to compensation from the insurance company for this incident.

In 2018 a German man, officially working remotely, walked in the morning from his bedroom to his workstation in another room. On the way he slipped on the stairs and fell, injuring his spine.

Initially the insurance company refused to pay the injured party compensation, arguing the accident did not occur during a commute to work. After that the employee decided to sue the insurance company.

After several months of court proceedings the federal judge examined all aspects of the incident and took into account that the plaintiff’s employer had permanently set up an “automated workplace” in his private home.

In its decision the court explained that German insurance law applies to remote workplaces to the same extent as when an employee carries out their activities in the company office. The court also found that the employee was heading from the bedroom to the workplace, not to the kitchen for breakfast, which is analogous to a commute to work. If he had been going there from the kitchen, that would have been a different situation for the insurer – it could then lawfully refuse payment, because that would have been his second commute to work that day and would have been from the kitchen. The investigation found that he does not eat breakfast before work at all.

As a result, the court ordered the insurance company to pay the remote employee compensation for this work-related injury incident at home.

Well, obvious really. As plain as day. The insurers will tweak things now, and the chumps will pretend to be idiots.

My God. I want to see how that investigation was conducted. Did they run tests for the contents of the foods people eat for breakfast or what

very interesting of course but something’s unclear anyway basically if he’d eaten the insurance would have refused yeah eating of course is harmful and not profitable)

Yeah! Here in Russia they’d have told them to f**k off and that’d be it…. what’s going on over there is unclear!

I consider it justified. Insurance, the word itself speaks about the fear of insurance))) let them pay. Russia could do with learning from Germany about insurance matters, otherwise they always have excuses(