Labor Law Q&A details

Chapter 1 Employment Relations

How to do the Settlement of Industrial Accident Insurance of Undocumented Migrant Workers

A migrant worker without a visa was working at the workplace and his fingers were severed. To cover it up, the company immediately dismissed the worker and did not pay for treatment. The migrant worker has not been making any complaints that he is afraid that he might be forced to leave the country. Can he get any compensation for this?

Migrant workers who do not have a status of residence under the Immigration Act can also benefit from industrial accident insurance. The Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act applies without discrimination to any worker under the Labor Law. As in the case of this question, there is no problem for undocumented migrant workers, so-called illegal alien workers, to receive compensations under the Industrial Accident Insurance Act. However, there are restrictions when this worker returns to his/her home country. If the foreigner resides in a foreign country other than Korea, the Labor Welfare Corporation will only pay the disability benefit as a lump sum rather than a pension. Therefore, if a foreign worker already receives a disability compensation pension in Korea, then the beneficiary right to receive a pension will expire when he leaves the country. The same applies to bereaved family’s compensation. Of course, unpaid compensation will be paid according to the provisions of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act.

In this case, it is highly likely that the company did not join the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance. If the employer of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance obligatorily applicable workplace did not join the insurance, workers still can have compensation for workplace accidents and settle them as industrial accidents. Even if an industrial accident occurred at an uninsured workplace, there is no disadvantage to the workers, and the employer must pay the insurance premium for the uninsured period. In addition, the employer has to pay the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation 50% of the insurance benefits (medical care benefits, benefits for suspension of work, etc.) paid to workers.

For further questions, please
call (+82) 2-539-0098 or email bongsoo@k-labor.com

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