A man who committed suicide after worrying about penalties he might receive at work due to his lack of English skills was the victim of an industrial accident, the Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The employee of a local civil engineering company, identified by his surname Oh, killed himself in 2008 after turning down a position at a branch office in Kuwait due to concerns that his insufficient English skills would hinder his work.
The Supreme Court said it was clear that the extreme work pressure led to his suicide, overturning a decision by a lower court that the company was not responsible for his death. The top court returned the case to the Seoul High Court for review.
“Oh worked at the company normally and even moved up the corporate ladder until the company decided to send him overseas. The pressure of having to use English fluently, coupled with his fear that his poor language skills could cause the company damage, appears to have resulted in extreme work-related pressure that accelerated his depression,” the court said in its ruling.
The botched dispatch to Kuwait had severe effects on Oh.
He suffered from extreme depression even though he was relocated to the company’s head office in Seoul and was promoted as a department head months later.
“I don’t even know how I’ll face my subordinates when I can’t even work overseas because I can’t speak English,” he reportedly told his family. In December 2008, five months after he decided to stay in Seoul, he jumped to his death from the company building.
Oh’s wife filed a lawsuit against the Korean Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service in 2010, claiming Oh’s death was the result of an industrial accident and the family should receive benefits.
But the Seoul Administrative Court dismissed her case, saying that it was reasonable for the company to ask Oh to work overseas. It added that the source of his stress had been removed when the company overturned its decision to send him to Kuwait.
Korean law stipulates that if a worker commits suicide, it should be considered an industrial accident if it has been medically proven that the victim committed the act while his or her power of restraint, cognitive ability or decision-making capability was substantially compromised by work-related stress.
The victim also needs to have been treated for a mental condition stemming from work-related stress.
In spite of the previous ruling, the Supreme Court said there was a substantial connection between Oh’s death and his work. The psychological pains stemming from Oh’s fear of being disadvantaged at the company for his inability to work overseas were very severe, it said.
By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)
