Is COVID-19 infection in a workplace an accident at work?

In order to consider this occurrence as accident at work, those 4 criteria must be met:

• be sudden,
• be caused by external cause,
• result in trauma or death,
• occur in connection with or in the course of work

Does COVID-19 infection fulfil all of the above requirements? If not, can it be considered an occupational disease? Does the lack of direct indication of COVID-19 in the list of occupational diseases, render it inapplicable?

Can an employee claim compensation from the employer, even if the infection is not classified as either an accident at work or an occupational disease?

Our lawyer Agnieszka Anusewicz is answering  those questions in the article „Czy zakażenie COVID-19 może zostać uznane za wypadek przy pracy lub za chorobę zawodową“  for Rzeczpospolita (article from 17 March 2021).