Shanghai is an incredible city, famous for several things, but snow is definitely not one of them! As it isn’t that usual to see snow falling in the city, many people have been very excited when encountering the heavy snow this week. However, due to the slippery surface on the ground, the chance of falling in the street has increased sharply, especially during rush hours, as it is even easier to fall down when people are rushing around in a hurry. Therefore, with the present article we will discuss about whether accidentally falling while commuting to work shall be considered as a work-related injury.
In accordance with Article 14.6 of Regulations on Work-Related Injury Insurance, where the employee is injured in a traffic accident for which he is not principally responsible or in a city rail transit, passenger ferry or train accident while commuting to work, the injury shall be verified as a work-related injury. Hence, only under the circumstances compliant with the aforementioned situations, injuries while commuting to work are considered as work-related injury. In order to further understand the regulation, let’s examine the following two cases:
Case I: Ms. Wang fell down and broke her leg while walking to the metro station on her way to work. However, in accordance with the Laws and regulations, if the employee falls down by himself/herself, it shall not be considered as a work-related injury because it’s not a “traffic accident” as described in Regulations on Work-Related Injury Insurance, even though it happens while commuting to work.
Case II: Mr. Zhang rode a bike to work, unfortunately, he was hit by a car and the driver of the car was the principally responsible person for the accident. Under this circumstance, his injury shall be considered as a work-related injury. Please, pay attention to what is following: in accordance with Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning Trial of Administrative Cases Relating to Work-related Injury Insurance, the identification of accident responsibility and conclusive results issued by the relevant authority shall be the basis. Therefore, it is highly recommended to call and report to the police and carefully reserve relevant documentations in this case. For more information, contact us via info@dandreapartners.com