Walking from your bed to your desk could count as a commute, according to a German court ruling

The walk from your bed to your desk could now count as a commute, according to a recent ruling from a German court.

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

According to the decision issued last week by Germany’s Federal Social Court, known as 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, adding that he did so without having breakfast.

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

However, a higher social court then said it viewed this “first morning journey from bed to the home office as an insured work route” and the Federal Social Court then confirmed the decision.

The German Federal Social Court explained 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, which were considered as “computer workstations that are permanently set up by the employer in the private area of ​​the employees.”

There has been an increasing focus on improving the rights of remote workers, with many having been forced to work from home due to the coronavirus pandemic. In October, Portugal passed new labor laws, which included a ban on bosses contacting employees outside of working hours.

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

In January, lawmakers in European Parliament also voted in favor of putting forward a “right to disconnect” law to implement across the bloc, enabling workers to turn off their work devices at the end of the day.

If you would like an assessment of a claim, you can use the online form available here without obligation or alternatively you can use the automatic claim calculator.

Follow us for the latest updates & news

Recent News

Autistic cinema manager wins €12k over discrimination in roster row

An autistic cinema manager who quit when his employer was unable to guarantee him two days off in a row following a months-long dispute over rostering arrangements has secured €12,000 in compensation for disability discrimination. The complainant's wife gave evidence...

Northern Ireland exam board boss wins £100,000 settlement

Northern Ireland’s Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) has paid a substantial settlement to its former interim chief executive who complained of sex, race and age discrimination and constructive dismissal. The sum paid to Margaret Farragher,...

Recent Articles

Psychological Injury

Nervous Shock I The law allows recovery of damages for so called nervous shock, within certain parameters and subject to limitations.  Nervous shock is the most commonly used legal label for psychiatric or psychological injury. Psychiatric injuries include...

Public Authorities and Negligence

Powers and Duties In broad terms, public authorities are subject to civil liability for negligence and other civil wrongs, in the same way as private individuals and companies.  The State and other public bodies are responsible for the actions and omissions of...

Duty of Care (Part 2)

Limits to Neighbour Principle The famous neighbour principle re-stated the general basis of liability in negligence. It stated, that “you must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your...

Duty of Care (Part 1)

Meaning of Negligence I Negligence is used in a number of senses.  In one sense, it refers to a person’s state of mind.  An act is negligent, where it is done without giving due weight to the risks involved.  A person  (and his state of mind) may...

Join our Panel

You May Also Like...