[Germany] Court rules walk from bed to desk potential commute

The walk from your bed to your desk now has the potential to be counted as a commute, according to a recent ruling from a German court, CNBC reports.

The court ruled that a man who experienced a fall on the way to his home office should be covered by his company’s insurance.

According to last week’s decision - issued by Germany’s Federal Social Court, the Bundessozialgericht - the unnamed man slipped on a spiral staircase and broke his back.

The court said the man should be protected by his employer’s statutory accident insurance because he walked straight from his bedroom to his desk in the morning and he did so without having breakfast.

Previously, the employer’s insurer had refused to cover the accident claim and a regional social court had judged the claimant’s walk from his bedroom to his home office to be an “uninsured preparatory act that only precedes the actual activity,” according to a translation of the ruling.

However, a higher social court later defined the “...first morning journey from bed to the home office as an insured work route” and the Federal Social Court went on to confirm the decision.

The German Federal Social Court said that 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.”

It said that the law applied to teleworking positions that were considered as “computer workstations that are permanently set up by the employer in the private area of ​​the employees home.”

Increasingly there has been a spotlight on efforts to improve the rights of remote workers after so many people were forced to work from home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In October, Portugal passed new labour laws, including banning bosses from contacting employees outside working hours.

The rules also required employers to contribute to their staff’s home-working expenses, such as internet and electricity.

In January 2021, lawmakers in the European Parliament voted in favour of creating a “right to disconnect” law to implement across the bloc, enabling workers to switch off work devices at the end of the working day.

Source: CNBC

(Links and quotes via original reporting)

The walk from your bed to your desk now has the potential to be counted as a commute, according to a recent ruling from a German court, CNBC reports.

The court ruled that a man who experienced a fall on the way to his home office should be covered by his company’s insurance.

According to last week’s decision - issued by Germany’s Federal Social Court, the Bundessozialgericht - the unnamed man slipped on a spiral staircase and broke his back.

The court said the man should be protected by his employer’s statutory accident insurance because he walked straight from his bedroom to his desk in the morning and he did so without having breakfast.

Previously, the employer’s insurer had refused to cover the accident claim and a regional social court had judged the claimant’s walk from his bedroom to his home office to be an “uninsured preparatory act that only precedes the actual activity,” according to a translation of the ruling.

However, a higher social court later defined the “...first morning journey from bed to the home office as an insured work route” and the Federal Social Court went on to confirm the decision.

The German Federal Social Court said that 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.”

It said that the law applied to teleworking positions that were considered as “computer workstations that are permanently set up by the employer in the private area of ​​the employees home.”

Increasingly there has been a spotlight on efforts to improve the rights of remote workers after so many people were forced to work from home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In October, Portugal passed new labour laws, including banning bosses from contacting employees outside working hours.

The rules also required employers to contribute to their staff’s home-working expenses, such as internet and electricity.

In January 2021, lawmakers in the European Parliament voted in favour of creating a “right to disconnect” law to implement across the bloc, enabling workers to switch off work devices at the end of the working day.

Source: CNBC

(Links and quotes via original reporting)