German court rules workers' comp covers remote worker's 'commute'

The 2nd Senate of the Federal Social Court in Germany has determined that a remote worker who fell between his bed and desk was injured while “commuting.”

The plaintiff was on his way to work from his bedroom to his domestic office which was located one floor below. According to the suit, he would usually begin work in his office immediately after waking up, without having breakfast. While descending the spiral staircase that connected the two rooms, he slipped and fell, breaking a thoracic vertebra.

The defendant employers’ liability insurance association rejected benefits for this worker after the accident. The Social Court determined that the first-morning journey from bed to the home office was an insured operational route, but the Regional Social Court found it to be an uninsured preparatory action that merely proceeded the activity of working. The Federal Social Court confirmed the decision of the Social Court.

The applicable statutes stated:

(1) Accidents at work are accidents of insured persons as a result of an activity justifying the insurance cover[age]. . . . Accidents are temporary events that affect the body from the outside and lead to damage to health or death.

(2) Insured activiites are also

1. the direct route connected with the insured activity to and from the place of the activity.

(1) . . . If the insured activity is carried out in the household of the insured person or in another place, insurance cover[age] still exists to the same extent as when the activity is carried out at the company’s premises.

The German federal court noted 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 or a coffee after already having entered his home office, the claim would not have been approved. The court said, in view of the current pandemic situation, many people are working from home. With regard to the protection of the statutory accident insurance, employees working from home should not be any worse off than the employees working from an office.

You can read more about this case, here.

Insurance Coverage Law Center editor’s note: As the court mentioned, in the current pandemic situation, with people around the world working from home for the last two years, workers’ compensation claims for accidents occurring in the home have increased exponentially. This case may have had a different outcome if it were argued in the states, as a commute generally is not covered by workers’ compensation insurance.