Supreme Court: "If Unpaid Industrial Accident Disability Benefits Remain and All Family Members Have Passed, the Child Inherits the Right"

Lawsuit Between Family and Agency Over Unpaid Disability Benefits

The Supreme Court has ruled that if a family member of a worker who died without receiving industrial accident disability benefits inherits the entitlement and subsequently passes away during litigation, the worker's child can inherit the right to claim and exercise that entitlement.

Yonhap News

According to the legal community on May 15, the Supreme Court's Third Division (Presiding Justice Lee Sukyeon) has finalized a lower court's ruling in favor of plaintiff B, the child of deceased worker A, in a lawsuit against the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service for unpaid insurance benefits due to pneumoconiosis (an occupational lung disease).

A, who had worked as a miner, was diagnosed with pneumoconiosis in June 2002 and passed away after receiving medical care. It was not until 2018 that the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service paid a lump-sum disability benefit and other amounts to A's spouse, using the average wage from the date of diagnosis in 2002 as the basis for calculation rather than the payment date. The spouse filed a lawsuit, arguing that the benefits should be recalculated based on the average wage as of the payment decision date in 2018.

The district court ruled in favor of the bereaved family. The court stated, "If the agency delays benefit payments without a valid reason, there are no statutory provisions for delayed compensation under current law, resulting in loss for the worker," and judged, "In situations where the system is insufficient, the calculation must reflect changes in average wage up to the date of the payment decision to protect the worker."

While the appeal was ongoing, the original plaintiff (the spouse) passed away in December 2023, raising the issue of whether B could continue the lawsuit. The agency argued that the death of the spouse, as the primary beneficiary, extinguished the entitlement, and therefore the child could not succeed the case.

However, the Supreme Court ruled differently. Upholding the appellate court's decision, the Supreme Court also recognized B's right. The court stated, "If a worker becomes entitled to disability benefits but dies without making a claim, and even the primary beneficiary subsequently dies, the general provisions of civil law on inheritance of property rights apply," and concluded, "It is reasonable to deem that the unpaid disability benefit entitlement is inherited by the beneficiary's heir (the child)."

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