By Kim Rahn
The nation’s top court has not recognized the link between an accident on duty and the death of a worker who died from a cerebral hemorrhage after working long hours.
According to the Supreme Court, Sunday, it overturned a Seoul High Court ruling that had ordered the Korea Workers’Compensation and Welfare Service to pay the bereaved family of the worker, surnamed Kim. It sent the case back to the high court for review.
Kim, 29, an employee at an architecture company, worked without a day off for about one month from August 2012. Her workload increased because her colleague took leave for personal reasons, according to the court.
Before August, she also had been off duty for only two to three days a month, often having to work overtime.
On Sept. 26, after working until 10 p.m. the previous day, she had headache and dizziness at the office and was taken to hospital, where she became unconscious and died of cerebral hemorrhage five days later.
The compensation agency did not recognize the death as an accident on duty, citing a lack of evidence that she had experienced a rapid change in working environment or an increased stress level.
But the high court recognized the link between the cause of death and long-term overwork.
However, the top court overturned the ruling, saying, “She worked for a month without a day off, but she usually went home before 8 p.m. and could take a rest regularly. We don’t recognize she suffered especially strong mental pressure from the work.”