A court ruled that a teacher who fell and died while playing badminton during teacher training cannot be recognized as an occupational accident.
According to the legal community on the 12th, the 13th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that the plaintiff (survivor’s family) lost in a lawsuit filed by the bereaved family of teacher A against the Ministry of Personnel Management in November last year requesting the cancellation of the disapproval of bereaved family benefits.
In February 2023, teacher A, who was receiving training at the time, suddenly collapsed while playing badminton with friends near his home. Mr. A, who was rushed to the emergency room, received treatment, but eventually died due to symptoms of subarachnoid hemorrhage.
The bereaved family believed that Mr. A’s death was a work-related accident and requested recognition of his death in the line of duty. However, the Ministry of Personnel Management did not accept this, believing that the disease originated from constitutional causes. The bereaved family objected to this decision and filed an administrative lawsuit in court.
During the lawsuit, the bereaved family claimed that at the previous school where Mr. A worked, there was an incident where the principal installed a hidden camera in the female teacher’s bathroom, which caused him to suffer severe mental pain throughout his teaching career.
However, the court deemed the Ministry of Personnel Management’s judgment reasonable, saying it could not confirm the connection between overwork and death due to work.
The court explained that it is difficult to say that Mr. A suffered from a continuous work burden, citing the fact that he had no record of working extra hours in the six months before his illness.
The court said that although it is presumed that Mr. A felt psychological burden due to the hidden camera installation incident, “There is no data to indicate that an unexpected and difficult work-related incident occurred to Mr. A around the time of the incident or that any unusual situation such as a drastic change in the work environment occurred to Mr. A.”
Regarding the cause of death, subarachnoid hemorrhage, the court also pointed out that cerebral aneurysm is closely related to risk factors such as high blood pressure, age, and heavy exercise. It is known that Mr. A suffered from an underlying disease of high blood pressure.
The court ruled that the possibility that the brain aneurysm occurred due to factors unrelated to official duties or that the original brain aneurysm ruptured due to excessive exercise cannot be ignored.
