Supreme Court: Employee Who Died Crossing Street Illegally After Company Dinner Recognized as Work-Related Accident

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court recognized a work-related accident in the case of an employee who died while jaywalking on the way home after drinking at a company dinner.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) announced on the 16th that it overturned the lower court's ruling, which dismissed the appeal filed by the family of Mr. A, who died in a traffic accident on the way home after a company dinner, requesting the cancellation of the denial of survivor benefits, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

The court stated the reason for recognizing Mr. A's case as a work-related accident: "Since it was an important event organized by the employer and Mr. A, who was in charge of overall safety management at the company, was involved in the company event, drank alcohol at the company dinner arranged by the employer on the same day, and had an accident while returning home, it can be considered a work-related accident."

In particular, the court pointed out, "The company recommended using public transportation when there was an overall event. Mr. A used public transportation as usual after the dinner and was crossing the crosswalk to get to the bus stop when the accident occurred."

Mr. A, who worked as a safety management manager at a construction site, was hit by a moving vehicle and died while crossing the crosswalk against a red light on his way home after a company dinner in April 2016.

Mr. A's family claimed survivor benefits and funeral expenses from the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, arguing that the death was a work-related accident, but the claim was rejected on the grounds that "the traffic accident occurred after the event ended during the return home and cannot be considered a work-related accident." The family then filed a lawsuit.

The first trial recognized the causal relationship between the accident and work and ruled in favor of the family.

However, the second trial judged the accident to be caused by Mr. A's excessive drinking and overturned the ruling, dismissing the plaintiff's claim.

The court stated, "There is no evidence that Mr. A's drinking was due to the encouragement or actual coercion by a superior rather than his own judgment and will."

It also noted, "It is difficult to conclude that he was in a state of impaired normal behavior or judgment due to excessive drinking."

A crosswalk in downtown Seoul

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.