Suicide work-injury claims up 33% in 6 years, but approval rate nearly halved

Claims seeking workers' compensation recognition for employee suicides linked to workplace stress have risen more than 30 percent over the past six years, yet the approval rate has fallen by more than 20 percentage points, according to newly released data. Bereaved families waited an average of about five months to learn whether their claims had been approved.

Data submitted to Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Hae-chul of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee by the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service show that suicide-related industrial accident claims rose 33.3 percent, from 60 cases in 2019 to 80 last year.

Over the same period, the number of approved claims fell 20 percent, from 35 to 28. The approval rate dropped 23.3 percentage points — from 58.3 percent to 35.0 percent. While more workers' families are filing claims, fewer are actually receiving recognition.

Broken down by gender, claims filed by male workers rose 16.7 percent, from 54 in 2019 to 63 last year. Claims by female workers rose far more sharply — nearly tripling from 6 to 17 over the same period.

By age group, workers in their 40s filed the most claims from 2019 through last year, with a cumulative total of 199, and also received the most approvals at 100. Claims by workers in their 60s rose 2.8-fold, from 4 in 2019 to 11 last year.

The length of the review process has also weighed heavily on bereaved families. Last year, the average time from filing a claim to receiving a decision was 157.7 days — down 104.6 days from 262.3 days in 2021, but still roughly five months.

"The fact that claim filings are rising while the approval rate has been cut in half shows that the current assessment criteria fail to adequately account for complex factors such as workplace harassment, overwork and job stress," Park said. "The government and the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service must re-examine the realism of their assessment standards and pursue systemic reforms that ease the burden of proof on bereaved families."