'Returned without sufficient recovery … stress worsened brain hemorrhage'

The photo is not directly related to the specific content of this article. [Yonhap]
The photo is not directly related to the specific content of this article. [Yonhap]

A court has ruled that the family of a worker who died after returning to work at his employer's request — before fully recovering from a brain hemorrhage and with symptoms later worsening due to workplace stress — is entitled to survivor benefits and funeral expenses.

According to legal sources Sunday, the Seoul Administrative Court's Administrative Division 8, presided over by Chief Judge Yang Sun-ju, recently ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by the family of the deceased, identified only as A, against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service. The suit sought to overturn the agency's denial of survivor benefits and funeral expenses.

A, who worked as a general affairs team manager at his company, suffered a brain hemorrhage at home in 2021 while complaining of stress from overwork and was hospitalized for treatment.

Upon discharge, his vision in the left eye had recovered to only about 50 percent due to optic nerve damage, and his muscle strength had not sufficiently recovered, leaving him unable to walk on his own.

The following year, A told the company he needed at least three more months to recover, but the company asked him to return and handle at least the year-end accounting work, citing a lack of staff to cover it.

After returning to work, A ended up performing not only the accounting duties but the full range of general affairs team responsibilities, as no additional staff were hired. He was found to have experienced significant workplace stress during this period, including being reprimanded by the company president.

That same year, A died while receiving treatment in an intensive care unit for seizures and a coma. The immediate cause of death was diagnosed as spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

His family filed a claim for survivor benefits and funeral expenses, arguing his death constituted a workplace accident, but the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service rejected the claim, saying it could not recognize a causal link between his work and his death. The family then filed an administrative lawsuit challenging the decision.

The court found that workplace stress had worsened A's existing brain hemorrhage and contributed to his death.

The panel noted that A "suffered a brain hemorrhage while complaining of stress from overwork, and returned to work at the company's request without sufficient recovery, despite needing 12 weeks of follow-up observation for aftereffects."

The panel added that A "appeared to have been under extreme physical and mental stress even after returning to work," and that "such stress is presumed to have contributed to worsening the existing brain hemorrhage beyond its natural rate of progression." Citing a court-appointed medical expert's opinion that a causal link between A's death and his work could be recognized, the panel ruled that the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service's decision was unlawful and must be overturned.


quq@heraldcorp.com