Worker who collapsed and died in the heat... non-payment of bereaved family benefits due to underlying disease is 'wrong'

A court ruled that it was a wrong decision not to pay survivor benefits to a worker who collapsed and died while working in hot weather due to an underlying disease.

According to the legal community on the 14th, the 7th Division of the Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff on January 23 in a lawsuit filed by the bereaved family of Mr.

Mr. A fell unconscious while working as a day laborer at a road repair construction site in the summer of 2023 and was taken to the hospital, where he eventually died.

The cause of death was acute myocardial infarction.

The bereaved family claimed that the cause of Mr. A's death was poor working conditions.

It is said that high-intensity work, such as carrying heavy loads and climbing slopes in hot and humid weather, caused myocardial infarction.

The bereaved family requested bereaved family benefits and funeral expenses according to industrial accident compensation.

However, the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service decided to refuse payment, saying that the work Mr. A was responsible for had no causal relationship with the death.

Mr. A's health checkup results showed that he was suspected of having high blood pressure and diabetes, and these underlying diseases were the cause of his myocardial infarction.

The bereaved family of Mr. A, who was dissatisfied with this, filed an administrative lawsuit, and the court ruled in favor of the bereaved family.

The court said, “High blood pressure and diabetes are risk factors for acute myocardial infarction, but excessive physical activity is also a risk factor,” and added, “Intensive physical labor in hot weather is a risk factor even for healthy adult men without underlying diseases.”

He added, "The work that the deceased did was physically taxing on the average person," and added, "We acknowledge a significant causal relationship between the work and the deceased's death."

Attorney Jeong Young-min of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A's bereaved family, said, "In order to receive bereaved family benefits according to industrial accident compensation, it is most important to prove the causal relationship between the deceased's work and death."

He explained, "We were able to obtain this result by proving that Mr. A did high-intensity work in a high temperature and humidity environment without any adaptation period, which led to rapid changes in his body and led to his death."
 

Reporter Shin Min-ji (sourminjee@ikbc.co.kr)

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Worker who collapsed and died in the scorching heat.. Non-payment of survivor benefits due to underlying disease is 'wrong' (Shortcut)