Statutory accident insurance applies in the home office
Since an employee also works from home for the employer, he is in principle insured through the statutory accident insurance during his working hours if something should happen to him. However, for the insurance to apply, the accident must occur in direct connection with work. This means that employees working from home are less well insured than in the office. Furthermore, the employee must not be under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident.
It depends on the circumstances of the accident
When it comes to the question of whether an accident in the home office is covered by accident insurance, the context of the accident is very important. While any accident in the office, be it going to the coffee machine or going to the toilet, is considered an accident at work, at home it must first be proven that it is actually an accident at work. The action that led to the accident must have been work-related. That is why going to the printer or fax machine is also insured in the home office if important documents have to be fetched there.
On the other hand, going to the toilet or the coffee machine is not insured in the home office – unlike in the office – since the intention behind it is not the economic interest of the employer, but a private motive. The Federal Social Court came to this decision because the employer cannot be held responsible for the risks of the private apartment. Fetching a glass of water and a fall on the way back to the office or at the start of work is therefore not insured, although one might think that this might be in the interests of the employer. However, the previous stay in the kitchen or living room was not motivated by the employer. In these cases, too, the accident victim would normally have been legally insured in the office, since the employee was at work during working hours at the time of the accident.
Evidence of the accident at work
The employee should therefore prove the accident as quickly and as well as possible, since it depends on the details. This is best done with family members as witnesses, noting the location, time and cause of the accident. If the employee was about to print out an important document, he should document the printer command and the time. A phone call to the doctor can also serve as additional evidence. However, if it turns out that the accident was not legally an accident at work, the employee is responsible for the accident and its treatment. But how is one insured in this case when working in the home office?
Private accident insurance as an alternative
Since the statutory accident insurance does not apply in many cases, it is worthwhile as an employee to take out private accident insurance. This applies to every accident, whether in a private or professional environment. Private accident insurance is recommended even if the work in the home office is limited in time, as in the case of the corona pandemic. Because private accident insurance provides significantly more services to a significantly larger extent. This includes, among other things, that private accident insurance pays for the reduced ability to work in the event of any permanent damage, while statutory accident insurance only pays out if the ability to work is reduced by 20 percent.
However, private accident insurance is not the best option for long-term absence from work, as it does not necessarily pay for life. For such cases, the Federation of Insureds recommends occupational disability insurance, which pays out a pension in the event of incapacity to work.
What happens if your own laptop breaks?
Not only the employee, but also their devices can be damaged while working in the home office. For example, the private laptop can give up the ghost during work. But who pays for it? As the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” reports, in this case the employer is obliged to provide a replacement. He must also pay the employee his salary if he cannot work for a few days due to the lack of work equipment, since it is in principle the employer’s obligation to provide the work equipment. If the employee works on their private laptop as a gesture of goodwill, this is done on a voluntary basis.
Editorial office finanzen.net
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