"Work Overload Acknowledged" Industrial Accident Recognized for Deceased Seoul National University Cleaning Worker

100L Trash Bags Flown in 4-Story Building Without Elevator
Intense Physical Labor Main Cause of Death
Managerial Abuse Also Part of Stress
"Meaningful to Have Overwork of Cleaning Labor Recognized"

On the morning of September 30, in front of the Guro-gu Workers' Welfare Corporation Gwanak Branch in Seoul, members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions' National Democratic General Union held a press conference for the industrial accident application of the late union member Lee, a cleaning worker at Seoul National University. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] Lee Mo (59), a cleaning worker at Seoul National University dormitory who was found dead in the break room last summer after suffering from excessive workload, including working in a four-story building without an elevator, has been recognized for an industrial accident by the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service's Occupational Disease Judgment Committee (ODJC).

The Seoul Gwanak branch of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service officially notified Lee's bereaved family on the 27th that his death was approved as a 'work-related injury death.'

The ODJC acknowledged several points: ▲Lee appeared to have been solely responsible for cleaning Building 925, which housed 196 students ▲the difficulties of having to carry out trash through stairs in a four-story building constructed in the 1980s without an elevator ▲the presumed increased workload due to the rise in trash after COVID-19 ▲the greater physical burden due to Lee's small stature of 156cm ▲and the continuation of physically intense labor not accounted for by working hours alone.

The ODJC also judged, based on the workplace harassment investigation conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Gwanak branch, that additional stress caused by superior's power harassment likely contributed as a factor in the death.

On July 15, a memorial space for the deceased cleaning worker was set up at the Agorium in the Gwanak Student Dormitory, Seoul National University, Gwanak-gu, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, the deceased was found dead from acute myocardial infarction in the break room on June 26. Building 925 of the Gwanak Student Dormitory, which Lee was in charge of, was a four-story building but so old that it lacked an elevator, making cleaning work conditions more difficult than other buildings. The showers on each floor were poorly ventilated, frequently developing mold, and Lee suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome from wiping mold off the ceiling, causing him pain.

Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, as students began ordering delivery food, the amount of trash increased significantly, increasing Lee's workload. Lee had to climb up and down the four-story building without an elevator and collect more than four 100L trash bags daily on average.

The controversy escalated when allegations surfaced that Lee had been subjected to workplace power harassment by the Seoul National University dormitory safety management team. The National Democratic Labor Union General Workers' Union (the union) and Lee's colleagues claimed that Safety Management Team manager A forced cleaning workers to take tests writing building names in English and Chinese characters unrelated to their work and publicly disclosed the test results to humiliate them, constituting power harassment.

According to the union's investigation, A held weekly cleaning worker meetings and deducted one point from performance evaluations if workers did not bring pens and notebooks or attended meetings in work uniforms. A also demanded a 'dress code' at meetings, stating "men should wear suits or shirts with stylish shoes, and women should look as stylish as possible." Regarding this, the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Gwanak branch recognized the administration of unrelated written tests and unreasonable dress code interference and evaluation as workplace harassment on July 30.

Attorney Kwon Dong-hee of Ilgwa Saram, who represented the case, said, "The ODJC ruled that the main cause of Lee's death was the high-intensity cleaning work and that stress from workplace harassment also influenced it. Although Lee's average working hours for the 12 weeks before his death were 44 hours and 55 minutes, which did not meet the Ministry of Employment and Labor's criteria for recognizing work-related diseases, it means that the excessive cleaning labor was acknowledged as a factor of chronic overwork."

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