Ⅶ. Case: Suicide from Work-related Depression

A. Introduction
Suicide is becoming a serious social phenomenon, occurring more frequently due to higher rates of depression. Depression, a disease to be treated medically with special concern, can lead to extreme behaviors such as suicide if it is neglected on the basis that symptoms are difficult to detect. The following case of suicide due to depression demonstrates considerable causality between the employee’s illness and work, thereby allowing admission as an occupational illness. According to the Implementation Regulation (Article 32) of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act (hereafter referred to as “the IACI Act”), “if an employee commits suicide and has received psychiatric therapy in the past due to work stress or whose normal cognition, volition or ability to control emotions has been affected due to work as determined by medical prognosis, it shall be admitted as a work-related accident.”
An office manager of Law Firm “X” committed suicide due to occupational stress in April 2008. The victim’s widow visited this Labor Law Firm and commissioned this case to prove this. Upon initial investigation, there was a great deal of difficulty because a suicide-related case is generally hard to have recognized as an occupational accident. After careful research, we were very confident that our case would be accepted if we could satisfy the criteria of work-related accident as stipulated in the IACI Act. As a result, we successfully proved that this suicide due to depression was an occupational accident and the survivors were able to claim pension from the nation.

B. Occurrence of Depression and Work Stress

1. The Employee’s work environment
The victim, age 37, (hereafter referred to as “Employee”) was hired by Law Firm “X” as a career office manager in October 2005. The law firm is a registered corporation engaged in lawyers’ business and consists of six lawyers and six employees (one office manager and five staff assistants). The Employee drafted legal documents (civil, criminal and civil execution lawsuits), managed the office staff, provided advisory consulting to clients, and provided assistance to the lawyers.

2. Excessive work volume
Before being hired by Law Firm X, the Employee worked for a law office, which was not a corporate law firm, but an office of multiple lawyers, where each lawyer had an office manager, and where the Employee prepared legal documents for one lawyer. However, at Law Firm X, a corporate law firm with 5 to 6 lawyers in varying specialties, the Employee was the only one to provide assistance to the lawyers in drafting legal documents. The Employee was a man of sincerity and responsibility, and made every effort to produce the best results. Eventually, the Employee earned the lawyers’ trust and was assigned to prepare legal papers for lawsuits with higher degrees of difficulty.

3. Stress concerning the lawyer in charge
The lawyer who assigned the Employee with the most work is known for his stubborn and strict personality. He criticized the Employee severely for any mistakes and demanded perfection, getting upset easily and often raising his voice.

4. Depression diagnosed due to work-related stress
The Employee’s health deteriorated with symptoms of depressive mood, fatigue, disinterestedness, insomnia and loss of appetite, guilt, and decreased confidence from December 2007 to early January 2008. He was diagnosed with depression at a psychiatric clinic on January 5, 2008.

5. Severe psychological burden
In 2007, Law Firm X received a request for redemption of outstanding loans (10 items) from a longtime corporate client, and the Employee was assigned to this case. The Employee discovered much later that one of the loans, amounting to KRW 50 million, had passed its extinctive prescription, meaning it was impossible for the company to claim the loan. The Employee told his spouse in despair just one week before his death, “The client company may request compensation for damages from the law firm, and the law firm may demand compensation from me. In order to protect our apartment’s deposit, the ownership should be in your name instead of mine.”

6. Long-distance business trip, work failure, traffic accident and suicide
1) The Employee was ordered by one lawyer to take a long-distance business trip to another district on April 16, 2008. The purpose of the trip was related to a court decision on custody of a child, for a case in which the child’s parents were claiming custody of the child from the grandparents.
2) The Employee left the office at 5 pm and drove the company car by himself to Goheung, South Jeolla Province. After driving for five hours, he arrived at almost 11 pm. In the small town where he arrived, he could not find lodging facilities and had to sleep in the car. He could not fall into sleep until 4 am and only slept for three hours. The following morning, the Employee met two court officials and the child’s parents and headed to the elementary school together at 10:50 am. However, the handing-over of a child to the parents was strongly resisted by the grandfather and the child, who refused to leave the grandparents.
3) While the Employee was driving back to Seoul in the afternoon of April 17, he had a car accident and took the damaged company car to a repair shop. At about 6:10 pm, he boarded an express bus for Seoul, where he could not rest since he had to report the car accident to the insurance company and brief the law firm of the failure to handover custody. The Employee arrived at Kangnam Express Bus Terminal around 9 pm and got home after 11 pm. He had a light meal and went to bed. At approximately 6 am the next morning, he committed suicide by hanging himself on the mountain trail near his house.

C. Symptoms of Depression and Criteria for an Incident to be Deemed related to Work
1. Symptoms of depression (On-line encyclopedia, Wikipedia)
Depression—different from feeling depressed temporarily—is a continual state of feeling depressed mixed with sadness, lethargy, and other physical symptoms. The main symptoms of depression are feelings of dejection and moodiness, which is followed by insomnia, loss of appetite and interest, restlessness, thoughts of suicide, and enervation. It can also include thoughts of personal futility, inordinate feelings of guilt, and poor concentration and memory. Depressed people are chronically tired and cannot fall asleep well, and remain tired even after sleeping for hours. Physical symptoms include headache, indigestion, neck and shoulder pain, and heavy feeling in the chest. Severe depression can lead to delusions and hallucination.

2. Criteria for determining an incident as related to work under the IACI Act

1. Definition of occupational accident (Article 5 (1) of the IACI Act)
The term “occupational accident” refers to any wound, disease, physical disability, or death of a worker, caused by his/her duties.
2. Criteria for determination of an incident as related to work (Enforcement Regulation (Article 32))
An incident caused by one of the following reasons shall be regarded as a work-related accident.
1) It takes place while the employee is performing contractual duties under supervisory control and management of the employer, or due to defects in facilities or management;
2) There is considerable causality between the incident and the injury of the employee;
3) The incident is not caused by the employee's intentions, self-injury, criminal behavior, etc. Provided, however, that if the suicide by an employee who is receiving mental treatment due to work stress or whose normal cognition, volition or ability to control his/her emotions is affected, according to medical opinion, by the work, it shall be admitted as a work-related accident.

D. Opinion
Depression is a disease that can be found in anyone, and needs to be medically identified and therapy or other treatment given. If neglected and overlooked as a temporary psychological condition, the employee may resort to extreme alternatives for resolution, as illustrated in the case described. In situations where an employee is diagnosed with depression in relation to work, the employer shall make every effort to provide care as part of the employer’s responsibility to provide a safe work environment. It is important to take appropriate measures through grievance-handling procedures and to prevent further depression in the workplace.