'A 115-Year-Old Building' Asthma Symptoms After 8 Months of Appointment, Court Rules "Work-Related Injury"

Seoul Administrative Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The court recognized the causal relationship between work and illness for a teacher diagnosed with asthma after working in an elementary school building that was 115 years old.

According to the legal community on the 24th, Judge Song Gakyeop of the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 2, recently ruled partially in favor of plaintiff A in the first trial of the lawsuit filed against the Minister of Personnel Innovation requesting the cancellation of the denial of official medical care approval.

A started working at an elementary school in Chungnam in March 2015, and from November of that year, began experiencing breathing difficulties and severe coughing. In June of the following year, A was first diagnosed with "asthma" and took medical leave twice between 2017 and 2019.

The elementary school building where A had been working had been in use for about 115 years since its opening in 1905. The wooden classroom floors generated a lot of dust, and the heating and cooling facilities were old, resulting in indoor temperatures of around 10 degrees Celsius during winter.

A applied for official medical care, stating, "Asthma and bronchopneumonia occurred due to dust and other factors generated in the aging building." However, the Ministry of Personnel Innovation rejected the claim, stating that a causal relationship could not be recognized.

The first trial court judged that a causal relationship between work and asthma was recognized.

The court stated, "At the time of the official medical care application, the building was about 115 years old, very aged, and the environment generated a lot of dust," and added, "The plaintiff showed no respiratory abnormalities in the physical examination just before appointment, but experienced breathing difficulties and severe coughing about eight months after appointment." It also said, "Both the plaintiff's primary care physician and the court-appointed medical experts presented medical opinions recognizing a causal relationship between the plaintiff's work and asthma."

However, regarding other pneumonias excluding asthma, the court judged that it was difficult to recognize a causal relationship with work based on medical opinions. Both A and the Ministry of Personnel Innovation appealed the first trial ruling.