Supreme Court: "For Pneumoconiosis Industrial Accident Compensation, Workplace and Cause of Onset Are the Last Place of Employment"

1st Trial "Last Workplace Causing the Cause" → 2nd Trial "Based on Last Workplace"
Supreme Court "Among Workplaces Affecting Onset, the Last Workplace Closest to Diagnosis Date"

In cases where a worker diagnosed with pneumoconiosis after working at multiple workplaces retires, the retirement date used to calculate the average wage, which serves as the basis for industrial accident insurance benefits, should be applied as the date of retirement from the last workplace among those where the worker performed duties that have a significant causal relationship with the onset or worsening of the occupational disease, and that is closest to the diagnosis date, according to a Supreme Court ruling.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) announced on the 25th that it overturned the lower court's ruling in favor of workers diagnosed with pneumoconiosis who filed a lawsuit against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service for the cancellation of the 'disapproval of average wage correction and non-payment of insurance benefit difference,' and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

Mr. A worked as a coal mining assistant at a mining site for about 4 years and 6 months starting in 1979, and after about 8 years and 6 months, from October 1992, he worked as a driller at a tunnel construction site for 3 days. He retired due to a work-related accident and was later diagnosed with pneumoconiosis.

Mr. B also worked in a coal mine for 16 years and 5 months, then worked at a tunnel construction site for 16 days starting in August 1992, stopped working due to an accident, and was diagnosed with pneumoconiosis in 1997.

Workers diagnosed with pneumoconiosis can receive insurance benefits under the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, and the amount of insurance benefits is determined based on the average wage.

The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service calculated the average wage based on the workplaces where the two individuals worked for a long time, reasoning that the short employment periods at their last workplaces could not be considered the cause of pneumoconiosis, and paid insurance benefits accordingly.

However, the two workers applied for insurance benefits based on their last workplaces, and when their requests were denied, they filed lawsuits.

The first trial court found it difficult to recognize a causal relationship between the work performed by the plaintiffs and their pneumoconiosis because the period they worked at the tunnel construction site was too short. The first trial court ruled, "When calculating the average wage of a worker who has worked at multiple workplaces and was diagnosed with an occupational disease after retiring from the last workplace, it is reasonable to consider the workplace that serves as the basis for the retirement date under the Labor Standards Act as the last workplace among those that caused the occupational disease, i.e., workplaces with a significant causal relationship between the work and the occupational disease."

However, the second trial court ruled that the calculation should be based on the last workplace. The second trial court stated, "When a worker who has worked at multiple workplaces is diagnosed with pneumoconiosis, if the wage received at the workplace closest to the diagnosis date is not significantly higher than usual and can reasonably represent the living wage, the average wage should be calculated based on that."

The Supreme Court overturned the second trial court's ruling, stating that the average wage should not be calculated solely because the workplace is close to the diagnosis date.

The court stated, "The retirement date used as the basis for calculating the average wage should, in principle, be the date of retirement from the last workplace among those where the worker performed duties that have a significant causal relationship with the onset or worsening of the occupational disease, and that is closest to the diagnosis date," adding, "Allowing the basis for calculating the average wage to vary depending on the incidental circumstance of 'which workplace the worker was employed at immediately before the diagnosis' contradicts the purpose of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, which is to provide fair compensation for work-related injuries."

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