The initial appeal comes from a person working in a Delhaize franchise, who found himself unable to work due to Covid from March 16, 2020, with a stay in hospital and even intensive care until May. This worker requested compensation from Fedris, the federal occupational risks agency. He was refused compensation. He does not in fact fall within the conditions described by the royal decree, since he fell ill before confinement.
The question that was asked to the Constitutional Court is this: are the temporal limits imposed by the royal decree not contrary to the principles of equality and non-discrimination?
The Constitutional Court indeed sees this as a problem. It also refers to the opinion of the Council of State, which had already pointed out the lack of reasonable justification.
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“These two time conditions are not relevant with regard to the need, specific to the occupational disease compensation scheme, to establish the occupational origin of the disease,” explains the Court. “It was not only between March 18, 2020 and May 17, 2020, but also outside the lockdown period, that certain workers in crucial and essential sectors were subject to the risk of contracting COVID-19 at a significantly higher degree than the general population.” The risk depended more on the nature of the function performed (in contact with many people or not) than on the moment, summarizes the judgment. The two temporal conditions are unconstitutional, concludes the Court.
