Incomplete Enforcement Decree of the Serious Accident Punishment Act... Failure to Address Death from Overwork Increases Management Risks

Both Labor and Management Dissatisfied... Concerns That Meaningful Revisions During Legislative Notice Period Are 'Practically Impossible'
Mandatory Penalties of 'Over 1 Year Imprisonment or Up to 1 Billion KRW Fine' Are Severe
Includes Diseases Like Heatstroke, But Excludes Overwork-Related Diseases Such as Brain and Cardiovascular Disorders
'Solo Task Prohibition' with High Risk of 'Second Kim Yong-gyun' Also Omitted
Business Community Fears 'Mass Production of Lawbreakers'... Ambiguous Safety and Health Budget Scale with 'Comply on Your Own?'

On November 24 last year, a focused rally urging the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act was held in front of the Democratic Party office in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, hosted by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Due to Seoul City's ban on gatherings of 10 or more people, only 9 attended the rally that day. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Enforcement Decree of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which the government painstakingly prepared and announced, is facing growing dissatisfaction from both labor and management sides, who claim it is too vague. During the legislative notice period, which lasts until the 23rd of next month, the government plans to engage in dialogue with stakeholders including labor and management, but the possibility of significant revisions to the decree is limited.

According to labor and management on the 11th, there are criticisms that the decree is too ambiguous and lacks essential core provisions. The management side argues that the government’s definition of occupational diseases in the decree?such as heatstroke, Legionellosis, syphilis, and AIDS?has a weak causal relationship with work. The Serious Accidents Punishment Act defines serious industrial accidents as cases where ‘one or more deaths occur,’ ‘two or more injuries requiring treatment for six months or longer occur from the same accident,’ or ‘three or more occupational disease cases occur within one year due to the same harmful factor.’ However, the decree omits specific criteria for what constitutes the ‘same harmful factor,’ and does not specify the scale of mandatory budgets for personnel, facilities, and equipment related to safety and health, raising concerns about confusion in the industrial sector. If an industrial accident causing one or more deaths occurs due to violation of these obligations, the business owner and management responsible may face ‘imprisonment for one year or more or a fine of up to 1 billion KRW,’ and for injuries or diseases, ‘imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million KRW.’ The obligations are heavy, but the regulations are vague, leading to complaints that ‘lawbreakers will be mass-produced.’

The labor side raises issues about the exclusion of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases, which are closely related to death from overwork, from the occupational diseases mentioned in the decree. The law and decree were created amid social concerns over industrial accidents such as death from overwork among delivery workers, but the decree is considered very insufficient compared to its intent. In response, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the competent authority, released explanatory materials stating, “We considered concerns that hiring of patients with cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases might shrink and that companies might be reluctant to recognize these diseases as work-related accidents due to fear of punishment.” The absence of provisions regulating ‘tasks that cannot be performed alone’ or mandating two-person teams also fuels labor’s dissatisfaction. Labor argues that without such regulations, there is no guarantee that incidents like the 2018 accident where Kim Yong-gyun, a worker at Korea Western Power, died in a crushing accident while working alone will not recur.

There have been no cases where major laws announced for legislative notice this year, such as the amended Labor Union Act prohibiting government notification of non-legal unions or the 52-hour workweek system implemented without a grace period for companies with fewer than 50 employees, were significantly revised during the notice period. Although the government announced plans to hold dialogues alternately with labor and management until the 23rd of next month, both sides remain skeptical that the government will be able to meaningfully amend the law.

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