探尋職業災害勞工提起民事訴訟的原因－民事判決之分析

對於職業災害的補償救濟，台灣雖設有勞工保險相關給付制度，卻仍有不少受災人提起訴訟，以尋求填補，本研究嘗試探究其中原因。研究者收集 2017 年度各級法院與職業災害相關的民事訴訟判決總共298 件加以分析。結果發現：勞工提出職業災害民事訴訟的勝訴率為61.8%，平均歷時為 1.6 年。資方屬於營建工程業的案例，被告較常涉及勞資以外的他方。針對勞方勝訴的案例 (N = 168)，分析勞方提起訴訟的原因，發現有 18% 與「漏未納保」相關，有 26% 與「抵充不足」相關，另有 35% 與「欠缺代位」相關，這些訴訟的提起，可能來自於勞保制度有所不足。其餘 21% 的案例，則牽涉到「職災補償」或「損害賠償」以外的其他勝訴標的，與勞保制度的設計與功能較無直接關聯。基於本研究之發現，研究者建議擴大職業災害保險的納保範圍至所有受僱者、提高保險給付的額度，並建立保險代位的制度，以期減少受災勞工的訟累。

關鍵字

職業災害；民事訴訟；勞工保險；補償；損害賠償；抵充；代位

並列摘要

In Taiwan, worker’s compensation insurance benefits are provided to workers suffering from occupational injuries. However, many victims still chose to file lawsuits for compensation. In this study, a total of 298 civil judgements related to occupational accidents issued by the courts in 2017 was collected and analyzed to explore the causes of filing lawsuits. The results showed that the success rate of injured workers in winning civil litigation was 61.8%, and the average duration was 1.6 years. Among the cases occurring in the construction industry, defendants were more likely to involve other parties other than employers and employees. Among the cases in which workers won (N = 168), 18% were related to “lack of insurance coverage”, 26% were related to “insufficient deduction” and 35% were related to “lack of subrogation”- these lawsuits were likely due to loopholes of the labor insurance system. While the remaining 21% of the cases involved winning targets other than “occupational accident compensation” or “damage compensation”, thus was not directly related to the designs and functions of the worker’s compensation insurance system. Based on research findings, the author suggests to expand the coverage of occupational accident insurance to all employees, increase the amount of insurance benefits, and establish a system of insurance subrogation, in order to reduce the litigation burden of injured workers.