NEW DEFINITION OF DEATH BY OVERWORK

03/01/2005

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Under the current labor insurance program, death by overwork has to meet either of the following two tests: (1) working continuously for 24 hours before death, or (2) working more than 16 hours each day in the week preceding death. A de-termination on death by overwork can also be made if in the month preceding the day when the worker died, his total hours of overtime ex-ceeded 100 hours, or in the two to six months preceding the day he was taken ill, he accumu-lated more than 80 hours of overtime per month. But there must be adequate timekeeping records, such as swipe card records, to evidence such facts, before the Bureau of Labor Insurance (BLI) will agree to pay occupational accident benefit. Because of the excessively strict standards for determination, and a lack of clear definitions, the number of cases in which the BLI has paid out benefits is very small.

However, the Council of Labor Affairs has now decided to relax the test for death or injury by overwork and for payment of benefits. In future, if a worker's heart or brain condition is clearly caused by overwork, and meets any of the fol-lowing three criteria, in principle the worker will be able to receive occupational illness benefit from the BLI:

Non-routine event: a clear link can be estab-lished between the time and place at which a worker suffers a non-routine event and his work on the day on which the illness occurs, or on the preceding day.

Short-term excessive workload: the worker had a severely excessive workload over a certain period, around a week before the ill-ness occurred.

Long-term excessive workload: the worker had an especially heavy workload or suffered cumulative fatigue for a long period, around one to six months before the illness.

In addition, as a long-term policy goal, the CLA plans to further devise more generous standards for determining occupational injury for workers who suffer work-induced psychological or psy-chiatric disorders, or who die or become inca-pable of working due to work-induced stress.