Samsung Worker Exposure to Toxins Deemed an Industrial Accident under Korean Workers’ Compensation Law

The Seoul High Court, on December 5, 2024, dismissed the appeal to the Seoul High Court by the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (2023nu52323) in a Korean Workers’ Compensation lawsuit filed by the mother of a Samsung Employee who died of leukemia (33 years old at the time of death). The employee worked at a Samsung Electronics semiconductor factory. The Mother filed the lawsuit to demand that the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service recognize the death as an occupational accident. The Court of first instance ruled in favor of the plaintiff-mother and the Seoul High Court dismissed the appeal, thus, ruling in favor of the Mother and, thus, granting Workers’ Compensation Benefits.

Korean Workers’ Compensation Benefits Claim of
Samsung Factory Worker Granted by Seoul High Court

Background

The Samsung Employee worked as a facility engineer in the dry etching process at the Hwaseong Plant of Samsung Electronics’ Semiconductor Division from July 2014 to March 2016. The Samsung Employee was in charge of equipment setup, preventive maintenance, and post-maintenance. In 2021, the Samsung Worker was diagnosed with “acute myeloid leukemia” and applied for medical care benefits from the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service. He was denied the benefits and he filed a lawsuit. He died in November 2022 while the lawsuit was in progress.

The Court of first instance noted that: “The deceased worked at the workplace in question for more than 8 hours a day for approximately 1 year and 8 months . . . . There is a high possibility that the deceased was exposed to hazardous chemicals while performing the above work. In particular, the deceased was in charge of the dry etching process and was directly exposed to hazardous substances such as IPA, hydrogen chloride (hydrochloric acid), and hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid), and it is highly likely that the deceased was directly exposed to hazardous substances remaining in the equipment or organic solvents used for cleaning during the work of replacing and cleaning parts. . . therefore, it is reasonable to consider that a substantial causal relationship is acknowledged between the illness and the work, and therefore the disposition in this case (disapproval of treatment), which has a different premise, is illegal and should be cancelled.”

The Seoul High Court agreed to granting of the Korean Workers’ Compenation benefits and opined that: “① It appears to be true that the work environment of the workplace in question has been continuously improving since around 2011, but it is difficult to acknowledge that ‘the work environment of the workplace in question at the time of this incident from 2014 to 2016 had improved to the point where the possibility of developing acute myeloid leukemia was not a probability based only on the evidence submitted by the defendant and the on-site verification results by the court in a situation where no investigation into the work-relatedness of [Samsung Employee] was conducted, ② Compared to similar cases where lymphohematopoietic diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, and aplastic anemia were recognized as occupational diseases, [Samsung Employee’s] period of employment does not appear to have been relatively long, but as there is no basis to believe that ‘acute myeloid leukemia does not develop with exposure to hazardous substances for a total of 1 year and 8 months’, it is impossible to deny a causal relationship solely based on the fact that [Samsung Employee’s] period of employment was relatively short compared to other cases, ③ Depending on individual and specific circumstances, extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields may be harmful on their own or in combination with other hazardous factors. It can be a cause of acute myeloid leukemia (see Seoul High Court decision 2022nu42268 dated March 20, 2024, recognizing a significant causal relationship between extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields and acute promyelocytic leukemia, and its appeal, Supreme Court decision 2024du39370 dated July 11, 2024, non-continued trial), and in light of the fact that the issue of exposure to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields cannot be overlooked in this case, where there is no genetic predisposition, medical history, or family history related to leukemia, and no other risk factors such as smoking history were found, the defendant’s claimed circumstances and submitted evidence are insufficient to overturn the recognition of a significant causal relationship.”

Sean Hayes is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only two non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw, and IPG Legal is consistently ranked Top Dispute Resolution Law Firm for our litigation services.

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