A court considers an occupational accident the fall of an employee at home while teleworking

The Social Court number 1 of Cáceres has agreed with an employee when considering the fall she suffered at home while teleworking as a work accident.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
07 November 2022 Monday 23:39
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A court considers an occupational accident the fall of an employee at home while teleworking

The Social Court number 1 of Cáceres has agreed with an employee when considering the fall she suffered at home while teleworking as a work accident. As a result of the pandemic, the worker was doing her work from home, her work consisting of sitting in front of the computer.

The judge considers it proven that on March 8, 2022, the woman went to the bathroom of her home and when leaving to resume her homework she stumbled in the corridor, falling to the ground, suffering trauma to her elbow and right side.

The mutual claimed that since the accident had not occurred while she was sitting in front of the computer at her home, it was not possible to speak of a “workplace” and, therefore, it was not protected by the regulations. The judge, on the other hand, points out that there has not been a clear interruption of the causal link and gives an example of interruption in the situation of someone who, during work time, while in the kitchen of his home, accidentally cut himself with a knife.

In this case, the sentence deepens, "nobody would question the opportunity to consider an accident at work suffered by an employee in the same circumstance if he worked in a factory, office or store."

In this sense, it indicates that "the obligatory visit to the toilet to attend to a physiological need, constant performance of the working day, cannot undermine the legal presumption" and concludes that "this is not about making a better condition for those who telework, on the contrary , we seek to avoid their lack of protection”. The sentence is not final and an appeal can be appealed against it before the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura.