Extreme Choice After Promotion Work Stress Ends... Court Recognizes as Work-Related Injury

The court recognized a work-related injury in the case of an office worker who experienced increased stress due to an expanded scope of duties after a promotion and subsequently took extreme measures.

Seoul Administrative Court.

According to the legal community on the 5th, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 13 (Presiding Judge Park Jeong-dae) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the family of Mr. A against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, demanding the cancellation of the decision not to provide survivor benefits and funeral expenses. The court stated, "The decision in this case, made on the premise that there is no substantial causal relationship between the deceased's work and death, is illegal."

Mr. A, a veterinarian who had worked at Company B since 2016, was promoted to manager in January 2020 and was assigned additional duties related to pet products, which he had never handled before. According to the family, Mr. A complained that after taking on the new duties, his "self-esteem and work ability declined," and he could only sleep 2 to 3 hours a day.

Mr. A was diagnosed with depression at a hospital, and later that year, he experienced serious internal conflict when an error was found in the ingredients listed on the packaging of the products he was responsible for. He expressed distress, saying things like, "I think the team leader has given up on me. I can tell by their expression," and believed he could no longer be promoted. He passed away on December 23 of that year.

The family claimed that Mr. A's death was due to work-related stress and requested survivor benefits, but the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service rejected the claim, stating that it was "due more to personal perfectionist tendencies and the reality of not meeting expectations than pressure from company work."

However, the court ruled in favor of the family, stating, "Unless there is a motive or trigger that can explain that depression developed due to reasons other than work-related causes leading to the extreme choice, it is reasonable to see that work-related stress exacerbated the depression by further reinforcing personal tendencies." The court added, "Although the court-appointed expert opinion cautiously suggested that work-related stress and fatigue could be one of the causes of the onset and worsening of depression, not the sole cause, it nonetheless recognized that the deceased's work-related stress was one cause."

The court further explained, "The causal relationship between work and the occurrence of injury does not necessarily have to be clearly proven medically or scientifically. If a reasonable causal relationship is recognized from a normative perspective, it should be considered proven."

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