The court judged that the 52-hour week system and the so-called'work-life balance' culture should reduce the average working hours and lower the'monthly working days', which is the standard for compensation for damages.
The 4th Division of the Civil Affairs Office of the Seoul Central District Court raised some of the plaintiffs' hand in a lawsuit filed against the hospital by A, a 60-year-old woman who suffered damage due to the aftereffects of the operation.
In 2014, Mr. A underwent joint surgery at a hospital in Seoul to treat the cartilage of the knee. After the operation, symptoms such as nerve damage, bleeding and pain, etc. continued, and he was diagnosed unable to lift the foot due to muscle weakness.
In the end, Mr. A filed a lawsuit against the hospital doctor in 2017.
The first trial court did not consider the number of working days per month, which is the standard for calculating damages, as an issue, but calculated it based on the 22nd of the previous month, but the second trial decided again from the calculation criteria.
The Ministry of Justice said, "According to the statistics of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the 22nd working days per month for urban daily workers who do general manual labor are excessive," and decided that the amount of damages should be calculated based on the lesser working days, 18 days.
The time when 22 working days per month was set was in the late 1990s, and it was also heard that the number of legal working days decreased and the number of holidays increased, such as the introduction of a five-day work week and the establishment of alternative holidays.
The Ministry of Justice added, "With the advancement of the economy and the development of the leisure industry, workers also enjoy the freedom of life without being bound by work."