Employee's suicide after customer row is 'death in service', rules court
Employee's suicide after customer row is 'death in service', rules court
A COURT in Almería has held that an employee who committed suicide after a row with a customer died in a 'work-related accident', meaning his next of kin is entitled to claim compensation.
'Death in service' payments are made by mutual insurers linked to the social security, or national insurance system, where a staff member's demise is directly linked to his or her work – normally within working hours, although sometimes outside of these depending upon the circumstances.
Additionally, widows', widowers' and orphans' pensions are increased in the event of death in service.
In the case of the Almería man, who worked for a branch of the Cajamar bank in the city, he had taken his own life just minutes after a heated dispute with a customer relating to a sum of money paid into an account.
Judge Óscar López refuted Cajamar's insurance company's claims that there was no way of proving cause and effect.
He said a 'clear link' could be seen between 'a prior work-related conflict', which is 'unquestionable', and the deceased's 'state of stress and nervousness' suffered 'as a result of said conflict'.
As well as the verdict meaning death-in-service compensation must now be paid to the man's family, judge López has ensured that the employee's spouse and children receive their pensions, which are non-contributory and lifelong or, in the case of the orphans' pensions, continue until adulthood.
The photograph shows an office of the Cajamar bank in Almería.
