Judgments - Court: Parents' council insured against accidents during sawing work
A volunteer member of the parents' council of a municipal kindergarten is insured against accidents when cutting tree slices for the kindergarten's Christmas bazaar, even if the sawing work takes place on his private property. This was decided by the 2nd Senate of the Federal Social Court (BSG) in Kassel on Tuesday (case reference B 2 U 10/21 R).
According to the BSG, in 2017, the plaintiff, as a member of the parents' council, was supposed to cut tree slices for the annual Christmas market of the municipal kindergarten, which were to be sold at a bazaar. During the work on the man's private property, his left hand got caught in the circular saw. He lost his middle and ring fingers.
Unlike the defendant, the Thuringia Accident Insurance Fund, the Gotha Social Court and the Thuringia Regional Social Court as the lower courts, the BSG now recognized the event as an accident at work. The 2nd Senate justified its decision by stating that, at the time of the accident, the plaintiff was working on a voluntary basis as a member of the parents' council within the statutory scope of duties of the municipality as the responsible body for the kindergarten and the parents' council. The kindergarten and parents' council had also specifically assigned the sawing work to him. The lack of opportunities to intervene on the plaintiff's private property was irrelevant in this respect. "The insurance cover extends to voluntary work 'for' the institution without any temporal or spatial limitation", explained the BSG.
BSG press release
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- Despite the sawing work taking place on his private property in Hesse, the Court ruled that the accidents during this voluntary task for the kindergarten's Christmas bazaar are covered by the parents' council's insurances, similar to the case in Thuringia.
- Despite the accident occurring on his private property in Cassel, the volunteer member of the kindergarten's parents' council was still insured against injuries, reflecting the court's decision in the Thuringia case involving a similar event.
- The judgments made by the German courts have established that volunteer members of kindergarten parents' councils are insured against accidents while doing sawing work for the Christmas bazaar, regardless of whether they carry out this task on their private property in places like Thuringia or Hesse.
- Following the court's ruling in Kassel, volunteer members performing sawing work for the kindergarten's Christmas bazaar in Thuringia or Hesse are protected by insurances, making the location of the private property irrelevant to the coverage.
- The recognition of accidents during sawing work as 'at work' incidents by the Federal Social Court translates into insurance coverage for volunteer members carrying out such tasks for kindergartens in Thuringia, Hesse, or any other German states, as long as they are assigned to do it by the corresponding parent-teacher associations.
Source: www.stern.de
