German Court: Remote Worker Who Fell Between Bed and Desk Was Injured While 'Commuting'
A man who slipped and broke his back while working from home was “commuting” to work during his walk from his bed to his desk, a German court has ruled.
According to the court, “the first morning journey from bed to the home office [was] an insured work route.” The Guardian reports that a German court has ruled that a man who slipped while walking the small distance from his bed to his desk can claim compensation on workplace accident insurance as he was technically commuting while traveling from one room to another.
The man was working from home and while walking from to his desk one floor below his bedroom, he slipped and broke his back.
The German federal social court, which oversees social security issues, has deemed that this counts as commuting to work and as such is a workplace incident.
The court noted that the man started working in his home office “immediately without having breakfast beforehand” but failed to add why that was relevant to the situation. Later, it said that statutory accident insurance is only afforded to the “first” journey to work which would suggest that if he had been injured on the way to get breakfast after already having entered his home office the claim would not be approved. Insurance refused to cover the claim, and while two lower courts disagreed on whether the man’s trip within his own home was a commute, the higher federal social court said it had found that “the first morning journey from bed to the home office [was] an insured work route” The court ruled: “The plaintiff suffered an accident at work when he fell on the way to his home office in the morning.” The German federal court said: “If the insured activity is carried out in the household of the insured person or at another location, insurance cover is provided to the same extent as when the activity is carried out at the company premises.” Read more at the Guardian here. Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com.
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