Supreme Court rules unpaid injury benefits pass to heirs

The Supreme Court ruled on March 12 that unpaid industrial accident disability benefits transfer to the heirs of a deceased beneficiary under general civil inheritance laws. The decision came in case 2024Du39189, where a worker qualified for benefits but died before claiming them, followed by the death of the primary family member designated to receive the funds.

Rejecting arguments that the right vanished with the recipient's death, justices stated that constitutional property protection applies because disability compensation functions as damages for loss rather than pure social welfare. The court noted that denying inheritance would create an imbalance where debts owed to the family persist while the corresponding asset disappears.

This interpretation distinguishes lump-sum disability payments from recurring pension-style benefits, which the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act explicitly states terminate upon the recipient's death. While the act specifies that disability annuities expire when the recipient dies, the court reasoned this does not apply to accrued lump-sum rights where payment was merely delayed. The bench also clarified that Article 77 of the act's enforcement decree does not mandate the extinction of these rights.

Unless specific statutes dictate otherwise, the Civil Act governs the succession of these accrued financial rights. The judgment dismissed an appeal in the case.