Paris, France - Should a heart attack during an adulterous tryst on a business trip count as a work-related accident? A French court has ruled it should, surprising even seasoned watchers of the country's protective legislation.
In February 2013, a company called TSO specialized in building railway tracks and based in northeastern France sent a technician on a business trip to the town of Meung-sur-Loire.
The last the company heard of the man identified in court papers as Mr Xavier was when they received a call to say he had suffered a heart attack and died after having sex at the home of a woman he met on the trip.
France's health insurance fund ruled that the man's death was an industrial accident and ordered TSO to compensate his family, a decision which was challenged in court.
After losing a first appeal before a social security tribunal, the company took the matter to the Paris Court of Appeal which confirmed the lower court decision in May, according to the ruling seen by AFP.
The judgement, which only came to the attention of local media in recent days, found that having sex was as normal as "taking a shower or having a meal" and that Mr Xavier was still entitled to his company's protection.
The company argued the man was not working when having "an adulterous affair with a perfect stranger".
Rouen-based lawyer and lecturer Sarah Balluet, who brought the case to public attention on social media, said it lowered the bar for workplace accidents.
Under French law, an employee is considered at work for the entire duration of a business trip, unless the company proves otherwise.
Balluet argued that in her view by engaging in sex the technician had "removed himself from his employer's authority".
But the court ruled that TSO had "failed to provide proof that the employee broke off his mission to perform an act that was completely separate from it".
Balluet described the ruling as "surprising" compared with previous rulings by the Cour de Cassation, France's highest court, "which has always attempted to establish whether or not the employee was carrying out his professional duties."
Neither TSO nor its lawyers were available to comment on the case, which has put employers in a bind.
"The question companies are asking themselves now is whether they need to expressly forbid workers from having sex during a business trip," Balluet said.
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source: news.abs-cbn.com
One in five Americans has hidden at least one bank account or credit card from their spouse or partner, a survey has found.
Younger people tended to be more likely to keep an account from a partner, with almost a third of millennials (people aged 18-37) admitting to having done so, according to the study by YouGov Plc, an internet-based market research and data analytics firm.
Twenty-four percent of Gen Xers (aged 38 to 53) had hidden assets, and 17 percent of baby boomers (54 to 72) admitted to having hidden an account, it added.
Just eight percent of people 73 or older had hidden a card or account, it said.
The study also found that almost a third (31 percent) of Americans said that keeping a card or account secret was worse than cheating romantically.
Meanwhile, 11 percent of all couples say they never discuss their combined finances.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LOS ANGELES - Jay-Z released a music video on Friday that features the rapper addressing the pain of infidelity as he appears in a confessional booth opposite his wife Beyonce.
Set partly in a church and also featuring the couple's 5-year-old daughter Blue Ivy, the "Family Feud" video pays tribute to family ties and female empowerment.
"We all lose when the family feuds," Jay-Z sings. "A man that don't take care of his family can't be rich."
The video is the latest from Jay-Z's hit album "4:44," in which he responds to allegations of cheating revealed by Beyonce in her 2016 Grammy-winning album "Lemonade." It briefly shows an unidentified couple having sex, until the woman stabs the man in the back.
Within an hour of its release, the video was the top trending item on Twitter.
Jay-Z, 48, confirmed in a New York Times interview in November that he had been unfaithful to Beyonce earlier in their nine-year marriage.
The rapper's soul-baring "4:44" album on love, life and social issues was widely seen as an apology to his wife.
The couple, one of the richest and most influential in the music industry, have reconciled and Beyonce gave birth to their twins in June.
Heavy on symbolism, the eight-minute-long "Family Feud" video shows the musician walking into a church holding the hand of a white-clad Blue Ivy and taking a seat in the confessional booth.
Beyonce, dressed in a black, priestess-like robe, watches silently from a pulpit and later sits listening on the other side of the confessional screen.
Directed by filmmaker Ava DuVernay, the video also envisions a future in which a grown-up Blue Ivy and other women of color, portrayed by actresses Mindy Kaling, Rosario Dawson, America Ferrera, Thandie Newton and Niecy Nash, appear to rule the world.
Jay-Z has a leading eight nominations for the Grammy Awards in January, including the top prizes of best album, song and record of the year.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
