Spanish employee who fell at home while teleworking wins appeal to deem it as ‘workplace accident’

A Spanish employee has won their appeal to have a fall they suffered in their kitchen while teleworking at home deemed as a workplace incident. 

Social Security and the Madrid Social Court number four first dismissed the man’s claim and concluded the incident that occurred in July in 2020 was ‘non-work related’.

But The Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) of Madrid recently overturned them. 

The employee of Canal de Isabel II in Madrid was teleworking about 9.15am when he slipped while walking to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

He injured his left hand, which required treatment at a hospital and then needed to undergo further surgery. 

The worker was discharged, and a temporary disability claim was filed due to a ‘non-work accident’ determination. 

But he appealed it considering that the fall was in fact a workplace accident. 

TSJ magistrate Jose Luis Asenjo Pinilla said the workplace, while people were working from home, was more than just the table and chair where they physically worked. 

“The judgement of the court of first instance makes a somewhat mechanistic and strict interpretation of what is to be understood as a workplace,” he told the court. 

“The activity that gave rise to the accident does not seem alien to what we have considered as a normal activity in working life; drink water in the place that is supposed to have the easiest access.

“His workplace is not a watertight compartment isolated from everything that surrounds him, as they want us to see.”

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