- Accidents at work can also happen quickly in the home office. The question is whether the employee is insured in the same way as in the office.
- Whether an accident counts as an occupational accident does not depend on the location, but on whether it happened while at work.
- If you fall over a printer cable in the home office because you want to fetch a document, it is considered an accident at work. The situation is different if, for example, you get yourself a glass of water.
Half-legal knowledge can cost a lot of trouble, time and money. The two lawyers Pascal Croset and Inno Merkel from der answer in the column “Know your rights” so that employees and employers are better informed Berlin law firm Croset Questions about labor law.
The following reader question reached us via Instagram: How am I actually insured in the home office – also when is an accident considered an accident at work?
The primary question is not where the accident occurred – whether at the company or at home – but where. Because: Accidents at work are accidents that occur as a result of an insured activity. Namely, as the name suggests, our work. In the office, the matter is relatively clear. In the home office, however, the boundaries between work and private life blur faster. Then it is necessary to differentiate: Did the person have an accident at work or while doing a private job that is not insured?
And this is where things get a little tricky: Whether an employee carries out an insured activity depends on his or her intention. Does he want to serve the employer with what he is doing at the time of the accident – for example by fulfilling his duty to work – or is he pursuing private purposes? The intention must find an objectification in the external circumstances. That is, the mere intention of fulfilling his duty to work is not enough.
If the employee is injured in an insured activity, the accident must be a major cause of the injury. This can be missing if roughly the same accident would have occurred otherwise – for example because of an illness.
Case study: fall while going down the stairs to fetch water
What does that mean in practice? For example, if you print out a document in the home office, fall over to the printer when you get up and break your arm, you are insured. The situation is different when the employee is hungry and wants to make bread for himself in the kitchen. Because eating, drinking and going to the toilet are typical private activities as basic human needs. You are only insured in exceptional cases, for example if the activity causes you to feel particularly hungry or thirsty. Otherwise it is not the case.
The Federal Labor Court has declined that it is not an accident at work if the employee has an accident at home on the way to the kitchen to eat, drink or to the toilet: In one case, an employee had to go down from her home workplace in the attic while going down to hers Ground floor kitchen hurt. Since she wanted to fetch new water in the kitchen, the necessary intention to serve the employer was lacking.
Because the employee was not fulfilling any of the duties inherent in her employment relationship by going down the stairs, nor was she on a company route. These are distances traveled to do the work. Insurance cover may also exist for journeys to and from the place of work – but this only applies from the moment the employee walks through the front door. So that is not necessary with the home office.
Incidentally, the case would have turned out differently if the employee had gone down the stairs to receive something at the front door that she needed for work. The court would also have decided differently if the employee had had an accident on the company premises – i.e. in the office. Such routes are recognized as insured company routes.
If it is actually an accident at work, all circumstances should be noted and documented as soon as possible that prove the relationship to the insured activity – including qualified witnesses. It is important to document when exactly – during working hours? – with what intention the victim did something. You should always report the accident as quickly as possible so that the employer can pass it on to the employers’ liability insurance association.
Should you take out private accident insurance to also be protected in the home office?
Private insurance comes into play where there is either no statutory insurance coverage at all – for employers, however, statutory accident insurance is mandatory for their employees. Or if there are gaps in insurance coverage, as is the case in the home office. Private insurance can therefore offer extended protection. Ultimately, however, employees have to decide for themselves whether such insurance makes sense for them
And who is liable if, for example, the laptop falls down in the home office?
If the employee causes property damage to his employer, we are no longer subject to accident law, but rather to compensation law. Even when working from home, employees may be liable to their employers in a privileged manner, namely less strictly than other debtors. However, only if the damage occurred as a result of an operational or operationally induced activity.
If the privilege applies, then the employee is liable according to the degree of his fault: not at all in the case of the slightest negligence, proportionally in the case of slight to moderate negligence – his quota then depends on an assessment of the circumstances of the case – and even in the case of gross negligence he may only be liable proportionally .
In the case of damage in the home office, the distinction can be made between business and non-private activities? – be more difficult though. It is therefore being discussed whether the privilege should only fail here if the employee causes a private risk of damage that is unusual in traffic. It remains to be seen whether this will prevail.
If the service laptop accidentally falls down, it is also decisive again, and that is what happened: When surfing the net privately, the liability privilege usually does not apply. However, if the laptop breaks during a research carried out by the employer, the employee is not liable at all as long as the device was set up in a stable manner. But there are cases where he would have to be partially liable: for example, if he fell down a flight of stairs with the laptop under his arm – which was noticeably smooth for everyone.
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