Choking, falling, electrocution… can an injury while teleworking be considered a work accident ?

Les Français ont de plus en plus souvent recours au télétravail (photo d'illustration). Christin Hume – UNSPLASH

De nombreux salariés français ont recours au télétravail. En cas d'accident à son domicile pendant les heures de travail, le point sur ce que prévoit la loi.

In March 2021, a midwife employed by the city of Paris injured herself with an ironing board while she was teleworking and she was following distance learning. Believing that she had been the victim of a work accident, she asked the Paris town hall to be fully paid during her stoppage, which the town hall refused.

The midwife then took the matter to court. The three and a half years of procedures concluded at the start of 2024 with the refusal of administrative justice to recognize a work accident.

This case rekindles the debate about what happens in teleworking in the event of an accident, knowing that the French are using it more and more often.

What is considered a work accident

"Is considered a work accident, whatever the cause, the accident occurring by the fact or at the expense of #39;opportunity of work to any person employed or working, in any capacity or in any place whatsoever, for one or more employers or business managers", may -read on the Social Security Code (article L411-1).

The Labor Code (article L. 1222-9) provides for the case of an accident occurring during a period of teleworking. "The accident occurring at the place where teleworking is carried out during the exercise of the professional activity of the teleworker is presumed to be a work accident within the meaning of ;article L. 411-1 of the Social Security Code".

Exceptions

The Labor Code therefore establishes a principle of equal treatment between employees who work on company premises and those who telework. Exceptions, however, arise from two recent court decisions, recalls BFM.

An accident occurring outside teleworking hours or at a place of teleworking is not presumed to be a work accident, stipulates the public service website. "The employee must therefore demonstrate that there is a link between his accident and his work. Failing this, the work accident will not be retained", we can read on this same site.

What to do in the event of a work accident while teleworking ?

In the company premises or at home, the procedures are the same. The employee must start by sending a medical certificate to your doctor. the Primary Health Insurance Fund.

He has 24 hours to prevent or have his employer notified of this accident.