The Research On The Legal Character Of Karoshi

In recent years, with the development of our society and the market economy, the pace ofpeople’s work and life continues to accelerate, the phenomenon of "karoshi" occurs frequently and comesin bold headlines, with a tendency to spread gradually. Many workers die young due to overwork, to society,bringing to the society and family huge losses and mental pain, what’s more, in many enterprises, disputesin labor relations intensified and the relationship between units and labors are quite strained. However,,there’s no legislation for the phenomenon of "karoshi" in our legal system, neither the concept nor the legalcharacter of "karoshi" has been defined strictly, and in theory the discussion on the legal character of"karoshi" has not got a unified conclusion, so that the existing laws are unhelpful when dealing with thecases of "karoshi". This paper argues that, for the phenomenon of “karoshi”, in order to do a thoroughresearch and develop a rational system for its regulation to protect the workers’ rights and interestseffectively, firstly we need to clarify its legal character. Therefore, in this paper, starting from two “karoshi”cases, in the first and second chapter I set forth the background and the concept of “karoshi”, then in thethird chapter I analyze emphatically some of the ideas and theories on the character of “karoshi”,such asthe theory of occupational diseases, job injuries, tort, concurrence between job injuries and tort, criminalsanction and so on, analyzing these theories on legal principle, to make a discussion of the problems ofthese various doctrines as well as the opposing views, combining with cases and experiences dealing withthe “karoshi” abroad and basing on our legislative and judicial practice, and finally, I present my point ofview on the legal character of “karoshi”.At last,in the fourth chapter, I propost my suggestions ofimproving the laws on “karoshi” in our counry, hoping I can do my own contribution in the researching ofthis problem and make the effort to promote the protection of workers’ rights and the construction ofChina’s legal system and social harmony.