Employee Compensated After Italian Court Recognises Link Between Mobile Phone Use And Brain Tumor

A recent case heard in the Italian courts may be influential in changing the approach employers have to work related mobile phone use. Mr. Roberto Romeo won an award for damages against his employer arising from the fact that Mr. Romeo's brain tumour was caused by prolonged use of a mobile phone for work related purposes.

Mr. Romeo was obliged to have brain surgery for the removal of the benign tumour which rendered him deaf in his right ear. The court accepted that the constant requirement to use a mobile phone over a period of 15 years had caused the brain tumour.

The convenience of mobile phones means that thousands of employers contact their workers on mobile phones but the risks that extensive and prolonged usage apparently poses will inevitably mean that employers may have to think again about how to communicate to avoid extreme consequences to their employees.

In 2011, IARC (the International Agency for Research on Cancer) had listed...