A ruling has been made that if a worker is seriously injured while drinking and diving into the sea at a dinner party attended by the employer, it is an occupational accident.



On the 5th, Chief Judge Kang Se-bin of the Changwon District Court announced that the plaintiff won the lawsuit filed by Mr. A (22), a 22-year-old automobile mechanic, against the Korea Labor Welfare Service to cancel the disapproval of medical care.



After finishing work on July 15 last year, Mr. A had a drinking party with 5 people including the owner and employees at a parking lot in a beach in Tongyeong.



At that time, 4 people including Mr. A played a roulette game on their cellphones and played a drinking game, and in the process, each person drank nearly one bottle of soju.



Then, around 10 pm, the party walked down from the parking lot on the high ground to the beach to bathe.



However, Mr. A dived from the parking lot to the beach 3 meters below and was seriously injured when he collided with his head and back on the sandy bottom of the sea.



As a result, Mr. A was diagnosed with a vertebral fracture and cervical dislocation and applied for medical care in August of last year, but a month later, when he received a disapproval from the Corporation, he filed a lawsuit. 



The court said, "At the time, there is no circumstance that suggests that Mr. A voluntarily and independently drank too much. explained.



He continued, "The reason Mr. A tried to dive dangerously at night without being able to see his surroundings during a dinner party was because he made a mistake in his judgment due to an impairment in his normal judgment ability due to excessive drinking in an unfamiliar place." It is reasonable to think that it was an occupational accident because it was caused by excessive drinking at a business dinner hosted and participated by the company.” 



This is in accordance with Article 37 of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, 'Criteria for Recognition of Occupational Accidents', Paragraph 1, Item 1. 



According to the current law, an 'accident that occurred during the preparation of an event organized by the business owner or participated in under the direction of the business owner' is considered a work accident.

However, this does not apply if there is no significant causal relationship between work and disaster.