Seven Organizations Including KCCI Request Supplementary Legislation on Serious Accident Punishment Act to National Assembly and Relevant Ministries

"Enacted Without Sufficient Discussion, Raising Concerns of Litigation Surge and Other Side Effects... Revision Absolutely Necessary"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] The Korea Employers Federation (KEF), along with seven economic organizations, announced on the 25th that they have submitted requests for supplementary legislation regarding the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (SAP Act), scheduled to be enforced next year, to the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee and relevant government departments.

The KEF and others stated, "The SAP Act was enacted without sufficient review and discussion, containing many issues such as ambiguous provisions and excessive penalties. If the law is enforced as is, side effects such as a surge in lawsuits are expected," adding, "To minimize confusion on the ground, it is essential to revise the law again before its enforcement next year."

They pointed out that although the SAP Act is a special law, the scope of deaths and occupational diseases classified as 'serious industrial accidents' is either the same as or more lenient than that under the Industrial Safety and Health Act. They requested that the scope of deaths be revised to "cases where two or more deaths occur simultaneously or two or more deaths occur within one year," and occupational diseases to "cases where five or more acute poisoning diseases requiring treatment for six months or longer, as defined by Presidential Decree, occur within one year."

They also emphasized that the obligations of management responsibility holders (primary contractors), which are prerequisites for punishment, are broad and ambiguous, violating the "principle of clarity," and urged that a legal basis be established to delegate the authority to specify related details in the enforcement decree.

They demanded revisions to the level of criminal punishment for management responsibility holders. They stated, "Imposing a minimum sentence of imprisonment with labor (one year or more) for industrial accident cases involving basic negligence on management responsibility holders violates the principle of proportionality," and called for changing the penalty level to a system with an upper limit.

Furthermore, they raised the need for adjustment, arguing that imposing fines of up to 5 billion KRW and punitive damages on corporations responsible for workplace supervision (negligence) violations similar to those under the Industrial Safety and Health Act is excessive legislation. They suggested, "Corporate fines should be lowered to up to 2 billion KRW in cases of death and up to 100 million KRW in cases of injury or disease," and "the scope of liability for damages should also be adjusted to within three times."

They also pointed out that all obligations and responsibilities for industrial accident prevention are imposed solely on business operators and management responsibility holders. The KEF and others said, "Although industrial accidents occur due to very complex factors, this law places all obligations and responsibilities for industrial accident prevention solely on employers and management responsibility holders," adding, "It is necessary to establish safety and health assurance obligations for workers as well and to prepare penalty provisions for violations to maximize the effect of industrial accident prevention."

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