By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
If you die at sauna while trying to recover from fatigue of the nightshift or sleep off a drinking session with your work colleagues, is the death eligible for compensation as an accident in the line of duty? A court said, ``No,'' in a recent ruling.
A court Monday ruled that the death of a police officer, Kim, cannot be seen as an accident requiring compensation due to the lack of a link with overwork.
``Kim overworked on the previous day of his death to prepare for the promotion evaluation and he may have had to work under pressure. But it's difficult to acknowledge that the workload was not manageable,'' a judge said in the ruling.
Instead, it should be taken into consideration that he went to the sauna after drinking late into the night and slept there, which can be seen as more dangerous, the judge said.
Kim was found dead at a sauna he visited after a drinking session with his colleagues. Before he fell asleep at the sauna he had to work a straight shift of over 25 hours.
Kim's family filed a suit against the Government Employees Pension Service last year when their request to recognize Kim's death as an accident in the line of duty was rejected by the organization.