Hotel Chef Who Died from Brain Hemorrhage During Work... Court Rules "Not Eligible for Industrial Accident Compensation"

Court: "If there is no sharp increase in average working hours, recognizing industrial accident is difficult"

Even if a person working in a hotel kitchen collapses and dies from a cerebral hemorrhage, the court ruled that it is difficult to recognize a causal relationship between work and death if the average working hours before the onset did not increase sharply or did not exceed 52 to 60 hours per week.

The Administrative 8th Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Chief Judge Lee Jeong-hee) announced on the 15th that it ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the family of Mr. A against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, seeking cancellation of the decision to deny survivor benefits and funeral expenses.

Mr. A had worked as the head of the kitchen department at a wedding hall in Gangnam-gu, Seoul since 2012. In July 2020, he was found collapsed due to a cerebral hemorrhage in the wedding hall restroom and was taken to the hospital but eventually passed away.

Mr. A’s wife claimed that Mr. A suffered a work-related injury and filed for survivor benefits and funeral expenses with the Service. However, the Service ruled that a significant causal relationship between Mr. A’s work and death was not recognized and therefore could not pay the survivor benefits.

Mr. A’s family argued that he experienced overwork and stress, as he was exposed to rapid temperature changes moving between the kitchen, which exceeded 1000 degrees Celsius, and the cold storage with food ingredients during working hours, and that he attended academy classes on holidays at the company’s suggestion.

However, the Seoul Occupational Disease Judgment Committee of the Service stated that it is difficult to consider the kitchen temperature generally exceeding 1000 degrees Celsius, and although Mr. A did attend academy classes to obtain a certification, the company did not force him to do so and supported his self-development by providing personal practice space and materials.

The court also sided with the Service. The bench stated, "To recognize occupational diseases such as cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, or musculoskeletal disease, the amount or hours of work within one week before onset must have increased by more than 30% compared to the average weekly amount during the previous 12 weeks (excluding the one week before onset)." It judged that Mr. A did not meet this criterion.

The court found that Mr. A’s weekly working hours before his death were between 34 and 36 hours, which does not correspond to ‘chronic excessive work.’ The court pointed out, "Mr. A had risk factors for cerebral hemorrhage such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and dyslipidemia, and had poor habits of smoking and drinking, failing to manage his health properly."

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