What counts as a work injury?
The Labour Code defines a work injury in Section 271k as follows:
Put simply, a work injury is damage to health (in the worst case even death) that an employee suffers in connection with the performance of their work, as a result of an accident event. In practice that may be, for example:
- bruising from a fall off a ladder during an installation,
- a cut while operating a machine,
- a fracture while handling a heavy load,
- or an injury in a road traffic accident during a business trip.
On the other hand, it does not necessarily matter whether the injury happened at the workplace or away from it, whether it was down to the employee’s clumsiness or to something unavoidable, or whether it occurred during working hours or after them.
What is usually not treated as a work injury?
By contrast, the following will usually not be a work injury:
- an injury on the way from home to work,
- a fight between employees,
- a heart attack.
As so often in law, nothing is black and white. Any of the examples above may turn out to be a work injury. It will always depend on the specific circumstances and on whether they fall within the statutory definition of a work injury.
So is it a simple question?
At first sight, perhaps. The text above gives both the statutory definition of a work injury and some examples from practice.
But what exactly do external influences mean? And how do you tell that they acted on us briefly, suddenly and violently? What is the difference between injuries while performing work tasks, in direct connection with the performance of work tasks and for the performance of work tasks? And what if the employee has health problems of their own that happen to show up while the work is being done?
The statute is not enough
What is more — as tends to be the way in law — the wording of the statute is often not enough when assessing whether an injury is a work injury. In our daily practice we constantly work with court decisions, which are rich in borderline and even curious cases of what is, and is not, a work injury.
The injury was a work injury. So is the case won?
No. Classifying an injury as a work injury is only the first step on the road to compensation. In the next posts we will look at the documentation that goes with work injuries and whether it matters for compensation, at when the employer is not liable for a work injury, at the specific claims you can bring as an employee, and at much more.
