Passage of Serious Accident Punishment Act in Plenary Session... Management Responsible for Industrial Accident Deaths to Be Punished

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[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyemin and Jeon Jinyoung] The bill to strengthen penalties for employers regarding industrial accidents, known as the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 8th.

On that day, the National Assembly held a plenary session and passed the "Serious Accidents Punishment Act" with 164 votes in favor, 44 against, and 58 abstentions out of 266 members present.

The core of this newly enacted law is to strengthen penalties when a "serious industrial accident" occurs, defined as one or more deaths caused by the employer or management's violation of safety and health obligations. Employers or management responsible will face imprisonment of at least one year or a fine of up to 1 billion KRW if a worker dies due to an industrial accident or incident. Corporations or institutions will also be fined up to 5 billion KRW.

Regarding injuries and illnesses, employers or management may be sentenced to up to seven years in prison or fined up to 100 million KRW. Corporations or institutions can be fined up to 1 billion KRW.

The law also introduces a punitive damages system, requiring employers or corporations responsible for serious accidents to compensate up to five times the amount of damages.

However, employers at workplaces with fewer than five employees are excluded from penalties for industrial accidents, and the law will apply to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees after three years.

The new law also introduces the concept of "serious civic accidents" to punish accidents occurring in public transportation facilities, public-use facilities, and the like. Penalties for businesses or corporations responsible for serious civic accidents are the same as those for serious industrial accidents. However, small business owners with fewer than 10 employees, workplaces under 1,000㎡, schools, and city buses are excluded from the scope of punishment.

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