Delivery Driver Death Sparks Debate: "Death from Overwork" vs. "Preexisting Condition"... Ministry of Employment to Investigate Cause of Death

Minister Lee Jae-gap "Excessive Workload... Regrettable"
Urgent Inspection of Delivery Companies' Safety and Health Measures... Concurrent Interviews and Investigations
"Criminal Charges for Illegal Acts Such as Coerced Applications Excluding Industrial Accidents"

Minister Lee Jae-gap of the Ministry of Employment and Labor. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it is investigating the cause of death of recently deceased delivery workers by targeting their affiliated companies and agencies, and will take action according to the law.

Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, opened the statement on the 19th at the Government Sejong Complex, saying, "I am very saddened by the recent consecutive deaths of delivery workers due to excessive workload and other burdens."

He continued, "We plan to thoroughly investigate the causes of death of the delivery companies and agencies these individuals belonged to, and if any illegalities are confirmed, we will take legal action."

Recently, due to the surge in delivery volumes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been consecutive cases of death from overwork among delivery workers.

Following the death of a CJ Logistics delivery worker on the 8th, on the 12th, a delivery worker in his 30s named Kim, who worked at Hanjin Delivery’s Dongdaemun branch, was found dead at his home.

The labor union claims that Kim died from overwork, while the company argues that Kim died due to a pre-existing illness and denies that it was a death from overwork.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor is investigating the causes of these deaths and will conduct an emergency safety and health inspection targeting 40 major sub-terminals and 400 agencies. The emergency inspection will be conducted from the 21st of this month to the 13th of next month. Interviews with about 6,000 delivery workers will also be conducted concurrently.

Minister Lee said, "Starting this week, we will conduct an emergency safety and health inspection to prevent health hazards such as overwork at 40 major service terminals and 400 agencies of CJ Logistics, Hanjin Delivery, and others."

He added, "We will check whether overwork exceeding the standards set by relevant laws has occurred, whether preventive measures against health hazards caused by overwork have been implemented, and encourage the establishment and implementation of improvement plans."

He also stated, "We will thoroughly inspect whether the primary contractors, the delivery companies, and the agencies have implemented safety and health measures for delivery workers in accordance with relevant laws, and if violations are found, we will take legal action."

Furthermore, the Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to investigate allegations that agencies forged delivery workers’ applications for exclusion from industrial accident insurance coverage and will take criminal action if necessary.

Earlier, on the 16th, a joint investigation team from the Ministry and the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service conducted an on-site investigation of the agency suspected of forgery.

Minister Lee said, "Based on the investigation results regarding the circumstances and facts of the exclusion application, if illegalities are confirmed, we will cancel the industrial accident insurance exclusion application of the relevant workplace, retroactively collect insurance premiums, and take criminal action if necessary."

The Ministry will conduct a full investigation of delivery workers’ industrial accident insurance exclusion applications submitted to the Welfare Service to check for forgery and other illegalities. In particular, agencies with a high rate of exclusion applications will be closely investigated to determine whether there was coercion by employers during the application process.

Minister Lee stated, "If violations are detected as a result of the investigation, we will cancel the approval of the exclusion applications and take criminal action against coercive exclusion applications."