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Coverage of Accidents While Working from Home Under Occupational Injury Insurance
Precedential Decision by Judiciary or Regulatory Agency
Author: Anna Jerndorf, Partner and Head of Employment – TM & Partners
The Swedish Supreme Administrative Court recently ruled in two separate cases (case no. 441-22 and 3375-22) where two employees were injured by an accident when working from their respective home. In both cases, the Supreme Administrative Court clarified that for there to be a connection between work and an accident incurred during remote work, the accident must occur when the insured person is carrying out work duties. Thus, an injury resulting from an accident that occurs while the employee is doing something unrelated to work should not be assessed as a work-related injury for purposes of occupational injury insurance.
In both cases, the court stated that since the central aspect in the assessment of the connection between accidents occurring when working from home is the distinction between work and private life, it is irrelevant whether the remote work was voluntary or ordered by the employer.