직업성 암에 대한 선원법상 재해보상

Abstract

The increased incidence of cancer among aging Korean seafarers has produced industrial disease compensation problems. According to the Seafarers Act, which is distinct from the Labor Standards Act, a shipowner, not an employer, is responsible for the compensation. Seafarers are not secured by the Industrial Accident Compensation Act ― a public insurance system, but they are subject to be treated and compensated while working aboard a ship even when injured or contracted with a disease due to a cause not associated with the performance of their duties. In the Seafarers Act, finding out whether an illness is caused by an act of one’s duties is still a focal point similarly in the Industrial Accident Compensation Act, because a range of compensation can be limited when an illness is proved not related to one’s duties.  In principle, the Seafarers Act determining a causal connection between seafarers’ duties and illness is subject to the test under the Labour Standard Act and the Industrial Accident Compensation Act. National Assembly and Courts have recently tended to lessen workers’ burden of proof in the industrial disease or injury compensation cases. Still, workers are facing difficulties in proving the diseases work-related, especially when it is cancer which not only takes long time to develop but is almost always hard to find the immediate cause. This paper examines the test for the correlation between seafarer’s work environment and cancer occurrence based on medical researches about cause of occupational cancer and precedent Court cases.