Reacts strongly to Supreme Court ruling
- Scandalous, says NITO's president Trond Markussen, and asks the politicians to come on board after the Supreme Court has ruled that injuries you incur during breaks in the home office do not entitle you to occupational injury compensation.
NITO has on several occasions called for clearer rules for working from home, and has previously argued that injuries from accidents in connection with working from home should be considered occupational injuries and give the right to compensation.
"Now the Supreme Court is shaking this principle," says Markussen.
Well-established understanding of the law is put at risk
The country's highest court has heard a case where a doctor fell and injured her foot during a lunch break at home after working at home in the morning before she was to go on to work at a hospital.
After the doctor was successful in the Court of Appeal that this was an occupational injury, the state appealed further to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court found that the doctor was not working at the time of the accident, and thus is not entitled to occupational injury compensation because, according to the court, this only applies when the actual work is performed.
This is despite the fact that practice in ordinary workplaces provides occupational injury coverage even during breaks. Two of the Supreme Court judges who dissented in the judgment even pointed out that the legislation has long been interpreted to mean that breaks are covered by occupational injury compensation. But now this understanding of the law can be at stake in all accidents during breaks in the home office.
Trond Markussen, NITO president.
Calls for political action
- We have once again demonstrated how unclear the rules for occupational injuries in the home office are in Norway. Even now that the pandemic is over, more than a million workers still have some remote work in their everyday lives. They have the right to just as much safety at work at home as in the office," says Markussen.
NITO's president believes that the most orderly thing would be for politicians to update and tighten the regulations.
- It is important to change laws and regulations so that all Norwegian employees are guaranteed the same rights regardless of where they perform their work and take breaks. I hope that the Minister of Labour and Social Inclusion listens to our input and cleans up as soon as possible," concludes Trond Markussen.