An employee who slipped on her way to a free workplace massage and tore her meniscus, among other injuries, will not be compensated under Germany’s statutory accident insurance. That was the ruling of the Sozialgericht (social court) in Munich, Germany, in a case that starkly exposes the limits of occupational accident insurance.
What happened?
The woman worked for a company that offers staff voluntary, employer-paid massages through an internal portal as part of its workplace health programme. She had booked a neck-and-shoulder massage, scheduled during working hours. On her way to the massage room, she slipped on massage oil left on the floor and tore her outer meniscus, among other injuries. The company’s statutory accident insurer (Berufsgenossenschaft) rejected her claim, after which she took the case to court (case number S 9 U 498/25).
What did the court decide?
The Sozialgericht München dismissed the claim. The massage served relaxation and a break, the court held, and therefore counted as a private activity pursued in the employee’s own interest, which falls outside the scope of the insurance. It made no difference, in the court’s view, that the employer paid for the massage and allowed it during working hours: otherwise, employers and employees could effectively decide between themselves how far statutory insurance reaches, simply through arrangements on cost or time-recording. Nor could the woman show that the massage was necessary for her fitness to work; during the hearing she acknowledged that her symptoms that day were no worse than usual.
Why isn’t the massage covered by the insurance?
Her comparison with company sports did not hold up either. According to the court, sports activities at work are insured because of their role in fostering collegial cooperation, and even then only under additional conditions, not because of the health benefit itself. A so-called commuting accident (Wegeunfall) was ruled out because the fall took place on company premises, on the way to an activity that was not itself insured. The argument that the spilled oil on the floor represented a risk created by the employer also failed: because the employer had not required the massage, there was no obligation tied to the employment contract to which that risk could be attributed.
Context
Germany’s statutory accident insurance is set out in Book VII of the Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB VII). Section 8(1) defines a work accident as an accident suffered by an insured person as a result of an insured activity. Case law interprets this as an activity connected to work, rather than one that primarily serves personal or private interests. That distinction between “work” and “private” is precisely where the Munich case foundered. Similar boundary questions arise in many countries with statutory accident insurance, for example involving accidents during breaks or at company sports events: what usually decides the matter is whether the emphasis lies on the work itself or on personal wellbeing. For employees, this means that an accident during a voluntary health offering from the employer does not automatically count as a work accident.
Source: Entspannung am Arbeitsplatz – die Grenzen der Unfallversicherung, October 9, 2026
Additional research: § 8 SGB VII – Arbeitsunfall (statutory definition)
