🔎 Case Summary

A South Korean administrative court held that a public official’s suicide, following a relapse and worsening of depression, qualified as a line-of-duty death for purposes of survivor benefits. The court set aside the Ministry of Personnel Management’s denial, finding a legally sufficient causal link between work-related stress and the death.


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🧾 Facts

The decedent (A) worked as a local education administration officer.

In January 2022, A was assigned as a school administrative office head.

Soon after the transfer, A repeatedly complained of severe workplace stress.

In March 2022, A was diagnosed with depression and took medical leave.

In July 2022, A returned to work and was reassigned to a library, but died by suicide about one month later (August 2022).


The spouse applied for survivor benefits for a line-of-duty death, arguing that unfamiliar tasks and intense stress aggravated A’s depression and led to suicide.

The Ministry denied the claim, citing insufficient medical basis to prove causation.


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🧑‍⚖️ Court’s Key Findings

The court ruled for the spouse and found it reasonable to infer that:

A’s work stress contributed to a relapse and deterioration of depression, and

A died by suicide while in a state where cognitive function and ability to choose actions were significantly impaired.


In short: work-related burden materially worsened the illness, and the illness materially contributed to the suicide.


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📌 Evidence the Court Emphasized

The court pointed to multiple concrete indicators supporting causation, including:

Overtime work (including documented after-hours work) during the adjustment period.

Continuous complaints of workplace hardship to family and acquaintances.

A long period of stability: after 2017, there were about five years without treatment records, suggesting symptoms were well-controlled until the new assignment.

Medical notes reflecting work stress statements such as:

having to work on Sundays,

the role being too difficult,

fear of burdening colleagues.


An expert opinion in the medical appraisal noting overtime and job stress can be contributing factors to depressive symptoms, lethargy, and suicidal ideation.



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🧠 What About Pre-Existing Vulnerability?

The court acknowledged A had a past history of depression and a family history, but still held:

> Even where other factors exist, if workplace burden combined with those factors to trigger relapse/worsening, the required causal nexus can be recognized.



This is an important framing: susceptibility does not break causation when work is a meaningful accelerator.


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⚖️ Takeaways

For public-service occupational death claims, courts may recognize suicide as work-related where evidence supports:

1. work stress → relapse/worsening, and


2. worsening → severely impaired decision-making, and


3. death in that impaired state.



A long symptom-free or treatment-free period can carry real weight when symptoms spike after a stressful transfer.

Denial decisions are vulnerable where the record contains consistent stress complaints + corroborating work-hours/medical documentation.

Article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/Case-curation/214645