Job-related suicide eligible for payment

An amendment to the Industrial Calamity Indemnity and Insurance Law has made it possible for families of those who commit suicide due to work-related stress to receive compensation with the recognition of their deaths as a work-related tragedy.

The Ministry of Labor revealed on August 6 that the amendment has been made so that family members could receive compensation if they submit evidence that the deceased has had a history of stress with treatment sought at psychiatrists` offices. Until now, families of a worker who commits suicide for any reason could not be compensated.

Also, families of workers who commit suicide while undergoing medical treatment for work-related injuries such as lung damage could seek compensation with evidence that the mental stability of the deceased had been jeopardized as a result of the injury.

According to the Ministry of Labor, the request for compensation by the families of workers who had committed suicide stood at fewer than two cases per year on average. However, since the economic downturn that necessitated the International Monetary Fund intervention, such requests have been on a steady increase with seven cases in 1998 and 11 cases in 1999.