No Justice for Teacher Who Died After Malicious Parental Complaints

The bereaved family of a contract teacher who took their own life after suffering from malicious complaints and verbal abuse by parents has lost a damages lawsuit filed against the school foundation and the parents involved.

Although an audit by the Office of Education confirmed the verbal abuse by parents and the death was recognized as a work-related disaster, the court ruled that it was difficult to hold the parties civilly liable.

Judge Song Seung-yong of the Seoul Central District Court, presiding over the 922nd Civil Division, dismissed all claims for damages filed by the family of the late teacher, surnamed Oh, who worked at Sangmyung Elementary School, against the Sangmyung Academy foundation and two parents.

As the bereaved family decided not to appeal, the ruling has been finalized.

The deceased was found to have been subjected to threats and verbal abuse from parents while mediating a dispute between students in 2022, with parents telling the teacher they would "report them to the police," "ensure they could never stand in front of a classroom again," or "make them eat prison food."

Suffering from malicious complaints on their personal mobile phone even during weekends and after work hours, the teacher sought psychiatric treatment before eventually passing away in January 2023.

It was revealed that because the school provided the teacher's personal phone number to parents, the teacher was bombarded with an average of more than 10 calls per day, with over 1,500 contacts made by parents between March and June 2022 alone.

While a subsequent audit by the Office of Education acknowledged that the parents had made threatening remarks, and the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service recognized the death as a work-related disaster the following year, the court reached a different conclusion.

The court did not recognize a breach of the school's duty of care, stating there was no evidence that the school specifically instructed the teacher to handle complaints during weekends or after work hours.

Regarding the parents, the court also declined to hold them accountable, stating that "the individuals responsible for the verbal abuse were not identified, and there is a lack of direct evidence regarding the specific details of the harm caused."

The court concluded that it was difficult to determine that the school and the parents could have foreseen the teacher's tragic decision.

A legal representative for the bereaved family strongly criticized the ruling, stating, "This verdict forces the teacher to bear all responsibility simply because there was no explicit instruction from the school. It is a ruling that completely ignores the reality of school sites."

The representative added, "We wanted to uncover the truth behind the teacher's unfair death and receive a sincere apology, but there has been no apology in any of the proceedings."

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Lee Da-in | Graphics by Lee Jeong-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.