This is a case representative of the working conditions of some rural workers, particularly shepherds, who are often forced to arrive at the place of their contract before it begins. So who is responsible if an injury occurs at this point? “This is an accident of private life”, was first answered by J. for agricultural social security (MSA) of the Northern Alps, 31 August 2023. However, the shepherdess was expecting to see the fracture of her ankle, which occurred two months earlier when she arrived at her workplace, an alpine pasture in Haute-Savoie, recognised as an accident at work.
Her employer had made an appointment with her the day before her one-month contract was due to start. From the nearest village to the hut that would serve as her official accommodation, it was a forty-minute drive along a very steep path, passable only by the employer’s all-terrain vehicle. They had an appointment in the afternoon to go up together, transporting the necessary equipment and food at the same time, before the arrival of the sheep the next day.
But the thirty-something woman was injured when she reached the mountain pasture, just after getting out of the vehicle. Diagnosis, made by medical certificate of the same day, dated July 3, 2023: “Trimalleolar fracture dislocation”That is, a triple fracture of the ankle and tibia, which caused a temporary interruption of work for ninety days.
“Hidden work”
However, the employment contract does not start until the following day, July 4. Therefore, when it receives the declaration of an accident at work, the MSA informs the worker in two lines of its refusal to cover an injury at work that occurred the day before the official start of his activity as an accident at work. The mutual insurance company, however, specifies the possibility of challenging this decision before the friendly appeal committee.
This is what the young woman will do, with the valuable help of the CGT, which, in two letters to the commission, will argue: “contextual elements that determine the conditions for access to a position as an alpine shepherd”, Considering the case of J. “far from being isolated.”
“In the vast majority of cases, shepherds are forced to work one or more days before the start of their employment contract, therefore without remuneration or social protection.”, writes the CGT shepherds’ union, which denounces the “generalization” from this “hidden work”. This, to get to know the mountain. “with a view to establishing a grazing plan”, install “holding equipment” cattle, put essential equipment into operation (water, electricity), take possession of the premises by taking their belongings there, etc.
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