CASE REVIEW

Mr. Dou was an employee of a sales company during his lifetime, and his type of work was a sales clerk. With the spread of the COVID 19 epidemic in 2020, the company requires Mr. Dou to work from home. From February 14, 2021 to the day of the incident, Mr. Dou has been communicating with customers online at home about delivery and payment issues. At 5:05 p.m. on March 13, 2021, Dou introduced the company to customers online. At around 5:22 p.m., Mr. Dou suffered a sudden illness and died after resuscitation. After the Human Resources and Social Security Department made a decision not to recognize the work-related injury, Mr. Dou’s family sued the court, and the court ruled to revoke the non-recognition decision.

REASON FOR REFEREE

During the epidemic, many employers actively responded to the call for epidemic prevention and were asked to work flexibly and work at home. Whether an injury or sudden illness in this work mode is a work-related injury is still not clearly defined by relevant laws and regulations. Based on the full text of the Regulations on Work-related Injury Insurance, the three elements for identifying work-related injuries are working time, work location, and the cause of the injury. The special point of working at home is that the workplace and living place are highly mixed. If a worker works at home according to the requirements of the company, then during the performance of work duties at the “home”, the “home” can be regarded as the place of work, which is also in line with the legislative intent of the “Regulations on Work Injury Insurance” to protect workers. In this case, Dou worked at home according to the company's requirements, and Dou was still performing his work duties when he fell ill. Therefore, the "home" place where he was located should be regarded as a workplace, which complies with Article 15 of the Regulations on Work Injury Insurance. During the working hours and positions specified in the first paragraph, the death of sudden illness or the death of ineffective rescue within 48 hours shall be recognized as a work-related injury.