A ruling recognises anxiety-related sick leave as an accident at work
A pioneering ruling has recognised a sick leave due to anxiety as an accident at work, due to the fact that the events that caused the sick leave were "exclusively" of work-related origin. This has been explained by the CCOO trade union, which has taken to court the case of a municipal worker of the Carboneras de Guadazaón Town Council, who was on sick leave due to an anxious adaptive disorder.
The ruling, which is final, states that "it is not normal and usual for a psychological pathology to be attributable to an accident at work" but, nevertheless, it also clarifies that the facts prove "objectively and incontrovertibly" that the reason for the sick leave has been
Nor is there "any other factor justifying this pathology" or a "concurrence due to endogenous, antecedent or degenerative aetiology"; thus, the legal and jurisprudential requirements for classifying it as an exclusively occupational accident at work are met.
Thus, the court declares that "the contingency of the Temporary Incapacity process initiated by the plaintiff on 22 March 2017 is professional, derived from an accident at work, with the consequences thereof, with the main charge to the co-defendant Mutua Fremap".
In the judgement, the "conflict" between the worker and the mayoress of the municipality is pointed out, when "forcing" him to drive a heavy vehicle without "obligation and work skills to do so". He was forced to comply with the order "under threat of the opening of a new disciplinary file, which caused the plaintiff to suffer an accident while driving the vehicle, suffering a strong state of nervousness, causing medical leave that same day due to common illness, with the diagnosis of a state of anxiety".
In this way, the sick leave was part of a "specific labour problem, motivated and progressively fuelled by successive strictly labour-related events", which had been confronting "the worker and the then mayoress of the town for some time". There had already been labour disputes between the two people, both in the private and public sector.
On 17 March 2017, by Resolution of the Mayor's Office, the City Council opened disciplinary proceedings against the employee "for alleged misconduct". The file was resolved three months later with the dismissal of the employee, which was subsequently declared "null and void for violation of fundamental rights".
The sentence was confirmed by the High Court of Justice in March 2018, and five days after the proceedings were initiated, the worker was threatened with disciplinary proceedings if he did not drive the heavy vehicle. He then suffered the anxiety crisis that caused his sick leave and which is described as an "acute reaction to work events".
