I've been sued in an industrial accident lawsuit. Please tell me how to respond.

Hello. I am an industrial accident attorney at Daeryun Law Firm (LLC).

You must be very surprised by the worker's industrial accident lawsuit.

According to Articles 78 to 80 of the Labor Standards Act, when a worker is injured, becomes ill, undergoes treatment, or becomes disabled due to a work-related disaster, the employer has an obligation to compensate.

However, there are two exceptional cases in which this obligation is exempted.

First, in the case of injury or illness due to gross negligence on the part of the worker, where the Labor Relations Commission recognizes such negligence, the employer may not bear compensation responsibility.

Second, according to Article 80 of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, when a worker has already received industrial accident insurance benefits, the employer may be exempted from disaster compensation responsibility.

As you mentioned, a worker who has suffered a work-related disaster can file an industrial accident lawsuit against the employer or related parties responsible for the disaster, separately from receiving industrial accident insurance benefits.

However, when a worker receives compensation through civil damages, the industrial accident insurance benefits may be reduced or not paid within the same scope as the amount received.

In such industrial accident lawsuits, proving the negligence of the parties and the causal relationship of the accident is the main issue and can have a significant impact on the outcome of the lawsuit.

Therefore, if a response to an industrial accident lawsuit is needed, after carefully organizing the circumstances and facts of the case, we recommend obtaining legal advice through consultation with an industrial accident attorney.