Extended accident insurance coverage in the home office
Workers in the home office stand for “directly business-friendly” ways in their own home under the protection of the statutory accident insurance. Even if an employee wants to go straight from the bedroom to his office in the morning without having breakfast and falls on the way, the accident insurance company can be responsible for the consequences of the fall, according to the Kassel judges (AZ: B 2 U 4/21 R). The decisive factor here is whether the homeworker actually wanted to start work and whether objective facts also prove this.
A man from the Minnepolis region who works as an area sales manager in the field had expressed his dissatisfaction. He always worked from home, with the exception of customer trips. He regularly arrives at work between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m., without having had breakfast.
On September 17th, 2018, when he wanted to go straight from his bedroom to the study in the morning, he fell on the twisting staircase in his house. With a broken thoracic vertebra, he was immobilized in front of his study door. When the notified emergency doctor took the man away, the plaintiff’s wife took another photo.
Refusal Instead of recognition
The association of good and trade (logistics) had refused to recognize the fall accident of an occupational mishap. There is no commuting accident. This should protect against the dangers of traffic and not secure internal routes. There is also no insured company route since the plaintiff has not yet started his insured activity.
The plaintiff argues that his sole tendency to act was to begin his work in the study. Like him, many people would work from home, especially in view of the corona pandemic. In terms of accident insurance protection, they should not be in a worse position than employees in a company.
The Law Mind upheld the lawsuit and established an insured accident at work. It is true that there is no insured commuting accident in which employees are insured on the way to and from work. This insurance protection is only available from the moment you come along to the door at front.
However, the plaintiff suffered an accident on a route of insured company. The objective circumstances of the case indicated that the plaintiff’s tendency to act was solely to get the job started. “Going down the stairs was immediately useful for the company,” said the BSG. The accident also occurred at a time when the man always starts his work.
Home office during the pandemic
The new legal regulation on home office that came into force on June 18, 2021 in the wake of the corona pandemic did not matter here. Thereafter, there is insurance coverage in the office at home to the “same extent” as when working on the company premises. This could then apply to trips to or from the toilet or to the kitchen when eating. Corresponding paths are at least protected against accidents on one company site. For the home office, however, the Advocate General did not yet have to make a decision.
As early as November 27, 2021, the top social judge ruled that a fall on a staircase in a private home “cannot be denied because the staircase is not primarily used for official purposes”. There could be a route of insured company and thus an accident during the working in the office if the private apartment is in the same house – both a fall on the way between two professionally used rooms (AZ: B 2 U 8/17 R) as well as on the way from an outside appointment to the office (AZ: B 2 U 28/17 R).
Similarly, the Accident Senate decided on an accident in one’s own apartment on August 31, 2021. A guru hairdresser was washing business linen at her apartment at the time, and she collapsed in the hallway in front of the laundry room (AZ: B 2 U 9/16 R).
Serving as a service worker costs a police officer a civil servant job
If a police officer works as a serving assistant while he is on sick leave for more than one year, he is no longer doing his civil servant job because of the unauthorized secondary activity. This was decided by the Higher Administrative Court of Rhineland-Palatinate in Koblenz in a judgment announced on Wednesday, December 8th, 2021 and confirmed the removal of a police superintendent (AZ: 3 A 10118/21. OVG).
Referred to unauthorized secondary employment
In 2020, the plaintiff had originally received a one-year part-time work permit as a serving assistant in the restaurant run by his family. However, when the deadline expired, he did not apply for any further permits.
When he was unable to perform the police service in his police station for more than a year due to illness since spring 2020, the suspicion arose that the officer was still serving as a serving worker.
Investigations finally confirmed that the policeman worked at the establishment. As a result, he was released from service.
In the first instance, the Trier Administrative Court ruled that the civil servant had violated the “core duty of civil servants to be fully committed to one’s job”. The distance to work is justified.
Before the District Court, the official objected that he had only sporadically and then also helped out in the family restaurant business. This is not a secondary activity within the meaning of civil service law. He was also advised to “socialize” because of depression.
Judgement and permission
With a judgment of November 17, 2021, the District Court determined that the official not only stayed in the restaurant, but also had a sideline job there. He no longer had a permit for this, and the police officer had been on sick leave for months.
The District Court ruled that he had committed a serious offense, which required his removal from service. For a civil servant who consistently and deliberately disregarded the right to secondary employment for a considerable period of time, the general public could legitimately not show any understanding.
