Aquaculture Worker with Prior Workers' Comp... Not Recognized as Employee After Death

Assemblyman Shin Junghoon presses over allegations the bereaved family was not interviewed
Calls for review findings to be reported before the comprehensive audit

At a parliamentary audit, lawmakers questioned why a worker who had received industrial accident compensation after being injured while working at an aquaculture farm was later not recognized as an employee in a case involving the worker's death while doing similar work. Questions were also raised over allegations that the family’s views were not sought during the labor office investigation, which became a key basis for denying survivors’ benefits.

Assemblyman Shin Junghoon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly’s Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee, questioned the investigation into the death at an aquaculture farm in Jeju Island and the circumstances surrounding the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service’s denial of survivors’ benefits during an audit of the Gwangju Regional Employment and Labor Office on October 16.

Shin Jeonghun

According to materials presented by Assemblyman Shin, the deceased died while working at an aquaculture farm on Jeju Island on May 17 last year. On April 16 this year, the family was notified by the service that survivors’ benefits could not be paid because the deceased had not been recognized as an employee.

It was confirmed that the deceased had previously received recognition for industrial accident compensation after being injured while doing similar work at a nearby aquaculture farm in 2023. Assemblyman Shin asked what grounds the service had for classifying the deceased as a self-employed business owner this time despite that history, and called for a thorough review of the evidence submitted by the family.

The response submitted by the service on October 14 said that, based on the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s investigation into the serious accident, the deceased had not been recognized as an employee under the Labor Standards Act.

The Gwangju Regional Employment and Labor Office’s opinion that the deceased was a self-employed business owner was used as a key basis for the service’s decision to deny the benefits.

Assemblyman Shin pressed the service on why the labor office had sent it an opinion with such definitive wording, even though, as he explained, the office had said that its opinion was not a final determination on the deceased’s employee status.

Whether the family’s testimony had been obtained also became a point of contention.

Assemblyman Shin said the labor office had relied on the employer’s testimony without interviewing the family. He also criticized the service for deciding to deny the benefits based on the employer’s testimony and the labor office’s opinion without hearing from the family, asking, “What kind of investigation is this?”

It was also pointed out that no attempt had been made even to verify the facts through the family’s representative, despite the deceased’s spouse having difficulty communicating due to a disability. The family is currently pursuing an administrative review to challenge the service’s decision to deny the benefits.

“The difficulties involved in the labor office’s investigative work come with equally weighty responsibilities,” Assemblyman Shin said. “The opinion submitted by the labor office could cause irreparable harm to the bereaved family.”

He added, “Thoroughly review the investigation process and report the findings before the comprehensive audit.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.