Social Court number 3 of Santander recognized the accident of an employee during his daily commute as a work accident, 44 kilometers longbetween home and work.
Concretely, as specified in the judgment which upholds the employee’s claim against the National Social Security Institute (INSS), it is a work accident on routethose who suffered going to and from work and as a result.
Indeed, in the aforementioned resolution, the President of the Court declares that the employee, sports instructor, “You have every right in the world to cycle to work.even if this distance is relevant.
“Maybe that’s it [el demandante] would like, in summer or spring, to highlight its health (physical and mental) and so I chose to cover this distance by bike”, contemplates the judge.
But the magistrate also mentions other scenarios in which it would be legal for the worker to prefer not to travel by vehicle. As if he “repudiated” its use “in the name of a environmentalism not negligible.”
In short, “forcing him to travel in a vehicle could violate his legitimate right to promote his health; remember that the actor is a sports instructor,” underlines the judge.
This responds to the position of the INSS and the mutual insurance company, which considered that the employee was endangering his physical integrity by making such a long journey by bicycle every day.
He did it on his racing bike and spent an hour and 40 minutes on each ride. But in May 2023, as he returned from the sports center where he worked, He was hit by a vehicle and suffered a broken collarbone..
“A normal trip”
The judge considers it proven that the work accident occurred on route. It took place on the road at 9:15 p.m. “The accounts correspond: 22 kilometers, 45 minutes,” calculates the judge.
Furthermore, the judgment indicates that, despite the length of the journey, it did not force the employee to enter dangerous areas. “He took a national or local road, he did not take a route on roads or irregularly; it was the normal, usual route”, specifies the resolution, which is not definitive, since it can still be be the subject of an appeal before the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Cantabria.
The judge, however, compares: “The situation would be completely different if the movement had taken place in the middle of the night, on impassable roads or with ice, incessant rain, wind or similar circumstances.
