Bank's employee's demise attributed to stress due to fresh responsibilities, ruled by the court.
In a landmark ruling, the Seoul Administrative Court has ordered the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (K-Comwell) to pay full benefits to the bereaved family of a 38-year-old bank employee who passed away due to a heart attack in March 2023.
The man, who had been working at a local bank since 2012, was reportedly under extreme stress from his new duties, specifically the task of reviewing corporate loans. Just before his death, he turned down requests for five such loans. The court found that overwork and work-related stress contributed to or exacerbated the man's heart attack.
The court's ruling suggests that the loan review process inflicted severe stress on the deceased. The court has also ordered K-Comwell to reimburse the family for funeral expenses.
This ruling comes amidst a growing judicial and governmental commitment in South Korea to address work-related deaths caused by overwork, workplace negligence, and excessive stress comprehensively.
Courts in South Korea have recently recognized deaths linked to high-pressure workplace culture, such as after company drinking, as work-related fatalities. For instance, a South Korean court recently ruled that a worker's death after three consecutive nights of company drinking was a work-related fatality, expanding the legal acknowledgment of work-related harm beyond physical accidents to include deaths linked to workplace social pressures[3].
Under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, prosecutors have aggressively pursued severe sentences against corporate executives for workplace accident deaths. For example, in a high-profile fire that killed 23 workers at Aricell, prosecutors have sought a 20-year prison sentence for the CEO, marking one of the toughest legal approaches to workplace deaths in Korea[5].
President Lee Jae-myung has publicly condemned recurring workplace deaths as "murder by willful negligence," urging stronger punitive measures against companies responsible for such fatalities. The government is considering punitive damages and increased financial sanctions against firms involved in repeated workplace deaths, reflecting a hardening stance on corporate accountability for workplace safety failures[1].
However, despite these legal frameworks, workplace deaths continue, notably at large companies like POSCO E&C, signaling enforcement and oversight challenges[1][2].
The court's ruling implies that the deceased may have frequently used his personal computer for work outside the office, suggesting that the average of 46 hours a week he worked might have actually exceeded 52 hours due to off-site work. K-Comwel argued that there was not a strong enough link between the man's death and his duties, but the court found otherwise.
This ruling serves as a stark reminder of the importance of work-life balance and the need for companies to prioritise their employees' mental health and wellbeing. It also underscores the need for effective enforcement of workplace safety laws to prevent such tragedies in the future.
- In light of the court's ruling, it's evident that the banking industry needs to prioritize workplace-wellness and mental-health initiatives to prevent similar work-related stress-induced health-and-wellness issues in the future.
- Businesses across various sectors, including finance, should take heed from this instance, potentially initiating reforms that promote a healthier work environment and reduce overwork-related risks to employees, thereby contributing to their overall wellbeing.
- The finance sector, in particular, should evaluate and address practices that may cause undue stress and contribute to health problems for its employees, ensuring compliance with industry standards in the interest of maintaining a safe, sustainable, and profitable business environment.
