This happened in Cuenca in Castilla-La Mancha on the 17th of November 2018. The man, employed as a waiter, was at home because he was off sick because of a fractured rib suffered as a result of a fall.
He had just read a burofax from his employer that he was had been sack and consequently suffered a massive heart attack, dying moments later, even before an ambulance arrive after his wife had phoned 112. The coroner’s note put the time of death at 10.30h.
The provincial office of the Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social in Cuenca approved shortly afterwards a widow’s pension of 657.42 euros together with a child’s pension (orfandad) of 240.81 based on his death not being a work-place accident.
The widow, however, contested this decision, with the help of the CCOO worker’s union, claiming that her dead husband, who was a waiter in a restaurant, had died from a work-related accident.
The court finding explained that the letter had triggered the heart attack, thus his death was work related because of the elapse between reading the later and his immediate heart attack.
The court has ordered the Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social in Cuenca to increase the pensions awarded (viudedad y orfandad)
According to the Secretary General for the CCOO in Cuenca, María José Mesas, said, “What is new about this is that the court recognises that his death was a work accident even though he was not at work at the time.”
She also explained that in a seperate case, the court had considered the reasons for his sacking was unjustified.
(News: Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha)