Occupational accident and remote work

Abstract

Teleworking raises numerous and relevant questions of a very diverse natu­re, among which are issues linked to the Social Security System, since its own regulation in Law 10/2021, of July 9, on remote work (hereinafter LTD), does not contain any reference to these issues, from which the supplementary application to teleworking of the TRLGSS is derived, but this solution. General Social Security Law article 156.3 establishes a pre­sumption of employment for any mishap suffered by a worker during the time and place of work. The burden of proof is reversed, and it is ultimately a matter of resolving in favor of the weaker party, in application of the «in dubio pro accidentado» principle in those cases in which it is not possible to have full certainty of the existence of the causal link between the accident and the injury. Thus, for example, it is applied when the worker appears dead at the workplace without the cause of death being able to be determined. But many times, it is not easy to determine what is considered by place of work, round trips, teleworking from home, breaks during the workday. Since the end of 2020, some rulings have been issued in which an attempt is made to coordinate the novelty of a type of service provision that takes place in the worker’s own home with a century–old regulation designed entirely for in–person work. These decisions are based on the jurisprudence built by the TS and would offer impeccable arguments if the accident had occurred on the business premises, but when it is the worker who chooses the place of provision of services, the situation requires analyzing under different parameters. That resolutions are analyzed in this work with the intention of seeking future criteria and solutions.