A man who died after having sex with a woman he met on a working trip was the victim of a professional accident and his employer is responsible, a French court has ruled, reports The Times.
The decision by appeal court judges in Paris stretches further the concept of workplace accident in a country that gives generous compensation to dependants of staff who die on the job.
Xavier X, whose surname was not released, was a technician working in the Loiret département [county] in central France, on assignment for his employer, TSO, a railway construction company based in an eastern Paris suburb. On a February night in 2013 he was found dead with heart failure in his hotel room in Meung-sur-Loire shortly after having sex with a local woman whom he had just met.
The labour authorities declared Xavier’s death to be an accident du travail, a classification that entitles the victim’s family to benefits including long-term compensation paid by the state and in many cases by the employer. Their partners and children receive a monthly benefit of up to 80 per cent of their salary until what would have been their retirement age and then a share of his or her pension. Xavier’s employer contested the decision but lost at all stages.
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