Is the fall of an employee who works from home an accident at work? Not necessarily. Recent appeal court rulings have ruled out the professional nature of the accidents suffered by employees who work from home, reports the specialized media. current HR.
Exclusion of a fall outside working hours…
In July 2020, a CPAM employee was injured during a teleworking day when she fell down the basement stairs of her house, where she had her workspace installed. She claims that her fall occurred at 4:02 pm, as she was coming out of her basement. However, she had “unmarked” the end of her workday at 4:01 pm, one minute earlier.
In a judgment dated June 15, the Amiens Court of Appeal found that the employee “was no longer under the subordination of her employer” at that time and that her working day had ended.
Also, the time of the drop (4:02 pm) has not been materially proven. “In fact, it is only justified by informing the employer at 5:33 p.m. and hospitalization at 5:50 p.m.,” said the Amiens Court of Appeal. Therefore, the accident was not recognized as a work accident.
… and a work accident outside the home
Another case concerns the employee of a bank in Réunion. The latter, who works from his house, suffered a computer failure after hearing a scare outside. He got out to find out what had happened and, while talking to the driver of a truck that had hit a telephone pole, he was injured when the pole fell from a second truck that pulled on the slack wires.
For the worker it is a work accident because he claims to have left his home to notify the operator and reestablish the necessary connection for his work.
The Réunion Court of Appeal did not agree with its ruling of May 4, 2023 and did not recognize the work accident. He considered that he had “interrupted his work” to investigate the origin of the computer failure but that the employer had not asked him to.
Source: BFM TV
