A 56-year old company worker died suddenly on night shift in August 1998. Two years later, his family filed a lawsuit against the company and a Shanghai’s district court heard the case recently and will make rulings within days.
Tang Yingcai, the deceased worker, worked at Shanghai Jing’an District Sixth Food and Oil Company. His sudden death, as judged by forensic medical experts, was due to high temperatures in the work place and fatigue-led disruption of organic function.
Tang’s family attributed his death to the onerous work duties given by the company and demanded 200,000 yuan (US$24,000) in compensation.
Although China has no special ordinance on overstrain death, relative legislation can be found in the Constitution and other acts. To stress the protection of individual rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights are engaged in discussions at the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, for their passage.
The district court will make verdict within a few days.
(People’s Daily 10/19/2000)
