Explanation of Laws
Work-Related Injury or Death
What is
Workers' Compensation Insurance?
If you are injured in an accident at work, you can use workers' compensation insurance. You may receive the following services:
- Free medical treatment (medical treatment compensation benefits)
- 80% of your salary for the time you were absent from work (temporary disability compensation benefits)
- Pension payment if you are left with serious aftereffects (disability compensation benefits)
- When a worker dies, his/her family receives a certain amount of money (bereaved family compensation benefits).
How to Use
Workers' Compensation Insurance
Ask your company to file a claim for workers' compensation insurance. Usually, the company will take care of the procedure.
However, some companies want to hide accidents and do not allow workers to use the workers' accident compensation insurance. In such cases, you can request workers' compensation insurance in the following ways.
- Go to the Labor Standards Inspection Office near the company and ask for a claim form.
- Fill in the information that you know
- Ask the hospital to give you a certificate of your diagnosis.
- Submit a claim form to the "Labor Standard Inspection Office" (when you submit the form, explain that the company will not provide proof of the accident.)
If there is a problem at some point in this process, please consult the Migrant Worker Research Group.
Accidents while Commuting
Workers' accident compensation insurance can also be used when you are injured in an accident while commuting to work.
The services you can receive and the procedures are almost the same as those for work-related accidents.
Claims for Compensation for Damages
If an accident occurs on the job (work-related accident), you may be able to receive money from the company in addition to workers' compensation insurance.
Companies have a duty to provide safe working environments for workers, which is called the “duty to consider safety.” If an accident occurs because a company neglected this duty, the company is obligated to compensate for damages. In other words, if the company's instructions are wrong or safety measures are inadequate, the company can be held liable for damages.
Also, if the accident occurred while you were commuting to work (commuting accident), you may be able to get paid from the perpetrator of the accident.
If you are involved in an accident, consult a lawyer. The Migrant Worker Research Group also offers consultation services.
Statute of Limitations
Claims should be filed as soon as possible.
Especially for workers' compensation insurance, the statute of limitations is as early as two years. After the statute of limitations expires, you can no longer claim services that you could have claimed otherwise.