Federal Social Court
Accident in the home office: the way from bed to work at home is insured
How much are workers in the home office protected by the statutory accident insurance? The Federal Social Court has now decided a case that occurred before the corona pandemic.
© Finn Winkler / Picture Alliance
In the home office, the boundaries between home and work are blurred. When does the statutory accident insurance have to pay? There is now a sensational court ruling on this.
Those who work in the home office are not immune to accidents – the Federal Social Court (BSG) has now dealt with such a case. The Kassel judges decided in a ruling that an employee who falls from bed to home office for the first time in the morning is protected by statutory accident insurance.
The plaintiff is an employed area sales manager in the field. He usually started his work between 7 and 7.30 a.m. without breakfast. On the way from the bedroom to the home office one floor below, he slipped and fell on the spiral staircase in 2018. He had broken a thoracic vertebra in the process. The trade association for trade and goods logistics did not recognize this as an insured commuting accident.
The Federal Social Court saw things differently now: The second Senate decided on Wednesday that walking up the stairs to the home office was only used to take up work for the first time and was therefore insured as a service in the interests of the employer.
When does the commute start?
The employers’ liability insurance association had argued that accident insurance cover only begins in a private apartment on the way to starting work when you reach your home office.
While the Aachen Social Court viewed the first morning journey from bed to the home office as an insured company route, the State Social Court of North Rhine-Westphalia judged it to be an uninsured preparatory act that only precedes the actual insured activity. The Kassel judges have now confirmed the decision of the social court.
With his appeal, the plaintiff had alleged a violation of substantive law. Not least in view of the current pandemic, many people worked from home. With regard to the protection of the statutory accident insurance, these should not be worse off than employees in the company. He argued that the way to the first commencement of work in the home office in the private apartment must be an insured company route.
The BSG now awarded the plaintiff benefits from accident insurance. In addition to treatment costs, depending on the consequences of the accident, this can also include pension payments.
The reason given by the BSG was that the way up the stairs was closely related to the work. The sales manager wanted to start work. This “objective tendency to act” is decisive.
Employees are also protected in the home office
The Kassel judges emphasized that this applies regardless of a change in the law on June 18, 2021 and was also before. According to the new regulation, there is accident protection in the home office “to the same extent as when working on the company premises”. The change in the law safeguards the recent BSG case law, according to which company journeys within the apartment are also insured, and in the future also routes to the kitchen door to eat or drink.
In the case of dispute, it was also about such a so-called operating route. The BSG equates a fall with an accident if an employee has reached the company but then falls on the way between the company entrance and the workplace. In the case of so-called commuting accidents, on the other hand, the BSG insists that the accident protection only begins after stepping through the private outer door. (File number B 2 U 4/21 R).
You can see in the video: According to a Bertelsmann study, women are the main victims of the home office. They rate their workload higher at home. 23 percent of respondents also find it difficult to switch off after work.