Appointed as Administrative Officer, Suffered Cerebral Hemorrhage Due to Overwork... Court Recognizes as Work-Related Illness

Seoul Central District Court / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A court ruling has determined that if a person serving as an 'administrative supply officer' responsible for managing military unit affairs suffers a cerebral hemorrhage, it should be recognized as an occupational disease.

On the 28th, according to the legal community, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 13 (Presiding Judge Nakwon Jang) ruled in favor of Mr. A in a lawsuit he filed against the Ministry of National Defense, requesting "payment of occupational medical care benefits."

Mr. A, who was promoted to sergeant in August 2016 and served as a company administrative supply officer for about a year and a half, lost consciousness and collapsed at home in March 2018. He was taken to a nearby hospital and diagnosed with subarachnoid hemorrhage (cerebral hemorrhage).

Mr. A filed a claim for occupational medical expenses with the Ministry of National Defense but was denied, leading him to file a lawsuit.

The Ministry of National Defense stated the reason for denial was, "Since the overtime hours did not reach 50 hours per month, a causal relationship between overwork and the illness cannot be recognized."

However, the court ruled in favor of Mr. A, stating, "Since being assigned as an administrative supply officer, physical and mental overwork continued, which appears to have rapidly worsened a pre-existing condition."

The court pointed out that after Mr. A took on the administrative supply officer role, he frequently worked overtime while managing unit personnel and the garrison environment, and he complained to those around him about the burdens and headaches associated with the position.

It was also noted that although his assignment was changed after a personality test in early 2018 showed he was exhausted from work stress, he continued to share the administrative supply officer duties for more than two weeks due to the circumstances of his successor.

The court explained, "As Mr. A bore multiple responsibilities and repeatedly worked overtime in the administrative supply officer role for a long time, it is evident that mental overwork accumulated fatigue. After the reassignment, he ended up performing administrative supply officer duties concurrently, which increased his workload in the four weeks prior to the onset."

The court added that preparing and conducting a cold-weather tactical march during this period of concurrent administrative supply officer duties likely contributed to the onset due to the harsh working environment.

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