Employee Who Committed Suicide Due to Supervisor's Verbal Abuse... Court Rules "Work-Related Injury"

Seoul Administrative Court Ruling on Survivor Benefits and Funeral Expenses Lawsuit

A court ruling has determined that if an employee who was severely reprimanded and verbally abused by the company representative takes their own life, it qualifies as a 'work-related injury.'

According to the legal community on the 19th, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 8 (Presiding Judge Lee Jeong-hee) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the bereaved family of Mr. A, who died three months after joining the company while suffering from verbal abuse, against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service for the cancellation of the denial of survivor benefits and funeral expenses.

Seoul Administrative Court, Yangjae-dong, Seoul. Photo by Seoul Administrative Court

Mr. A joined a company in July 2020 and died at the company in October of the same year. During the approximately three-month probation period, which was based on the premise of employment, he was subjected to severe reprimands and verbal abuse from the company representative, which caused a fear of being fired and a rapid worsening of depression. In particular, it was revealed that the day before his death, he was verbally abused by the representative in front of other employees.

The bereaved family claimed that Mr. A died due to work-related stress and requested survivor benefits and funeral expenses from the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service. However, the Service refused payment, stating that "it is difficult to consider the death as caused by work-related reasons." The family requested a reconsideration from the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Reexamination Committee, but after it was also dismissed, they filed a lawsuit.

The court ruled in favor of the bereaved family, stating that "a significant causal relationship between Mr. A's work and death is recognized," based on Mr. A's diary before death and hospital medical records.

The court added, "Mr. A was considerably fearful of being fired during the probation period, and it appears that he felt extreme shame and frustration after being verbally abused by the representative in front of employees the day before his death," and "the work-related stress Mr. A experienced, combined with his personality, significantly impaired his ability to suppress suicidal impulses compared to before."

Furthermore, the court stated, "There must be a causal relationship between work and the occurrence of injury, which does not necessarily have to be clearly proven medically or scientifically but should be judged from a normative perspective," and "when it can be inferred that a worker, due to work-related overwork or stress, falls into a state of significantly impaired mental restraint leading to an extreme choice, it can be said that there is a significant causal relationship between work and death."

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