Civil liability for cross-border work accidents

Abstract

The civil liability of the employer derived from an international work accident has not been expressly regulated. After asking which could be the current model derived from this silence, its adaptation to the typology of accidents and to the intervention of third parties is analysed. With this aim, the essay is composed of five epigraphs: I. The silences of the rules of PIL: 1. The need of express rules. 2. Labour approach versus damages approach. II. Looking for a PIL approach for international work accidents: 1. International Jurisdiction: two insufficient approaches: A) Approach based on characterization. B) Approach based on jurisdictional order. 2. Applicable law: a puzzle of parties, damages and employment relationship: A) Law of the common habitual residence: proximity to the employer and employee. B) Law of the accident: proximity to the harmful event. C) Law of the contract of employment: the most connected law to the employment relationship. 3. Freedom of choice and work accidents: a blurred relation. A) Work accidents in international contracting clauses. B) Choice of law clauses. C) Choice of court clauses. III. PIL and Typology of international work accidents: 1. Standard Case: accident in the place of habitual performance of the work. 2. Special cases by the mobility of the employee: A) Accidents of transferred employees. B) Accidents of temporarily posted employees. C) Accidents of cross-border employees. D) Accidents of seasonal international employees. 3. Special cases by the international nature of the service: A) Work accidents during transnational services. B) Work accidents during nomadic services. C) Work accidents in international spaces. 4. Special cases by the irregularity of the relationship: A) International accidents of "false self-employed persons". B) Accidents of foreign employees in an irregular situation. IV. PIL and intervention of third parties in the international work accidents: 1. Several employers and international work accidents: A) Work accidents in cases of international subcontractors. B) Work accidents in cases of international assignment of workers. C) Work accidents in cases of international succession of firms. D) Common Aspects. 2. The insurer of the international employer’s liability: A) Joint claims against the employer and the insurer, B) Direct claim of the employee against the insurer. V. Conclusions.