Teacher beaten by student and verbally abused by parent... Court rules "Work-related injury"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] A court ruling has determined that if an elementary school teacher develops depressive disorder after being assaulted by a student under their supervision and verbally abused by a parent, it should be recognized as a work-related injury.

According to the legal community on the 9th, Judge Seongyul Lee of the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 11, ruled in favor of female teacher A in a lawsuit she filed against the Government Employees Pension Service to cancel the denial of work-related medical care.

The court stated, "Being assaulted by a third-grade elementary school student and having a parent angrily protest would have been a traumatic experience for teacher A," adding, "It is sufficiently recognized that she suffered extreme stress and mental anguish."

The court further explained, "Medical records show that A had not previously complained of stress due to personal reasons unrelated to her teaching career, and her symptoms worsened after this incident," and "a reasonable causal relationship between her work and illness is acknowledged."

In June 2018, while working as a third-grade homeroom teacher at an elementary school in Daegu, A was assaulted by a student. When she tried to stop the student from taking a notebook on her desk without permission, the student hit her arm five times.

A contacted the student's mother to request home guidance. However, the student's father called back and shouted, questioning the teacher's qualifications by saying, "Isn't this because the teacher did something wrong to the child?" and did not hesitate to use harsh language.

A was diagnosed with acute stress reaction, anxiety, and depressive disorder due to this incident and applied for work-related medical care, but the request was denied, leading her to file this lawsuit.

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