SK begins compensation for sick workers

By Kim Yoo-chul

SK hynix, the world’s No. 2 memory chip producer, said Thursday that it has begun compensating some factory workers who’ve allegedly developed incurable diseases at the company’s workplaces.

“Over the last three months, SK hynix has been hit with a total of 89 lawsuits from company workers suffering from alleged occupational diseases. We have begun compensating the victims according to our compensation standards,” a spokesman said.

Among the cases, thyroid cancer accounted for about the half of them, followed by miscarriages, leukemia and lymphatic cancer.

SK hynix said that although the connection between the cancers to hazards in the workplace has yet to be proven, its decision to compensate those affected was in line with SK Group’s ongoing drive to become a good corporate citizen.

But the amount of financial compensation that SK hynix is willing to provide for each victim has yet to be decided as it will differ individually.

The SK Group’s semiconductor affiliate inaugurated a review committee in 2014 to check the use of hazardous materials at its manufacturing plants and to review the safety of the company’s factories after several company workers contracted various cancers.

The committee, led by external experts, representatives of the company union and management made thorough checks at the factories over one year.

In November last year, SK hynix announced its plans to compensate many of the victims despite controversy over the use of toxic chemicals and workers’ health condition.

After the first-round of compensation requests, SK hynix said it plans to accept additional cases from workers who allegedly contracted leukemia on the job.

“A support center within the committee will take full charge,” the spokesman said.

SK hynix operates memory chip lines in the provincial cities of Icheon and Cheongju, in addition to a factory in Wuxi, China. At the Icheon plants, it mainly produces dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips; the Cheongju plants fabricate flash-type memory chips.