Factory manager given six months for allowing employee to work illegal overtime before death
An Ulsan court handed down a prison sentence after finding that the defendant had ignored repeated violations of working limits before a young employee collapsed and died.
A factory manager has been sentenced to six months in prison for failing to address an employee repeatedly working beyond the legal overtime limit, according to the Ulsan District Court on Thursday.
The case stems from the death of a young worker who collapsed and died in May 2023 at an auto parts manufacturer in Ulsan, where the defendant worked as a factory manager.
The Labor Standards Act sets the standard workweek at 40 hours and allows up to 52 hours with consent from both management and the worker. Investigators found that the employee repeatedly exceeded that limit.
Although the victim worked primarily as an entry-level office employee, they were assigned to production work after completing their regular duties as manufacturing demand increased. The victim routinely worked an additional two to three hours on overnight shifts.
During the two months leading up to their death, the victim repeatedly sent messages describing the heavy workload, saying “my left chest hurts,” to family and friends.
"I worked 20 hours yesterday. I'm going back to work after only three hours of sleep. The factory manager is making me do this," the victim wrote in a text.
"I'm working the night shift on Sunday," he wrote in another.
A person touches their smart phone in this stock image.JOONGANG ILBO
The victim exceeded the legal overtime limit seven times, working as many as 59 hours in a single week before ultimately dying from an undisclosed pre-existing medical condition.
During the trial, the factory manager argued that they did not know the employee had worked beyond the legal limit.
The defendant claimed the company used a comprehensive wage system under which office employees received a fixed overtime allowance based on a 52-hour workweek and were free to decide whether to work overtime.
The court rejected that argument.
The factory manager had reportedly acknowledged the victim’s overnight work by telling the victim, "You had a long night," the court said.
A bronze statue symbolizing justice is seen in a courtroom in Ansan, Gyeonggi, on June 9.NEWS1
The court also found that, as the factory's top manager, the defendant failed to properly monitor employees' working hours and workload.
"The defendant was informed that office employees were being assigned to overnight shifts on the production line to meet delivery deadlines after orders piled up and some production equipment broke down," the court said. "He also knew that the employee was working more than 52 hours a week but took no meaningful action."
"The defendant continues to deny all of the charges and has not reached a settlement with the victim's bereaved family," the court said in explaining the sentence.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
