211: Dilemma in Identification of Work-Related Injuries

The opposing party sent a lot of materials for this case, but in fact, it's quite simple to summarize.

The netizen's husband was previously a food delivery rider, and then during a delivery recently, he suddenly felt unwell and fainted.

He was discovered and rushed to the hospital, but after about eleven days of emergency treatment, he unfortunately passed away, leaving behind his wife, an eight-year-old child, and two elderly parents.

With him gone, eleven days of ICU treatment amounted to a huge sum of money, an amount their family simply couldn't afford to pay back.

Anyone with a slight understanding of labor dispute knowledge would know where the problem lies here: it's highly likely that his death won't be recognized as a work-related injury, or rather, a work-related fatality.

Because it won't be recognized as a work-related injury, there's no way to get compensation.

In fact, this is a very typical issue in the field of work-related injuries, one that Zhou Yun had seen many times in his previous life.

So, where is the problem? Article 15 of the Regulations on Work-Related Injury Insurance stipulates that under any of the following circumstances, it shall be regarded as a work-related injury. The first clause states: 'If a sudden illness results in death during working hours and at the workplace, or if death occurs within 48 hours after emergency treatment fails.'

Do you see the problem? It must be death within 48 hours after emergency treatment fails. If it exceeds 48 hours, it will not be considered a work-related injury.

This is why, in many similar situations, some hospital doctors will ask you if you want to continue resuscitation when the 48-hour mark is approaching.

If the person dies within the time limit, there's compensation; if the person dies after the time limit, there's no compensation.

So, I ask you, when your loved one's life hangs in the balance, do you continue resuscitation, or do you sign to give up resuscitation within 48 hours to secure work-related injury compensation?

This is a very difficult choice, and combining his past and present lives, Zhou Yun has always had strong opinions about this regulation.

Of course, while he has strong opinions, if you ask him to come up with a better solution, he certainly doesn't have one... that's just reality.

So, when Zhou Yun saw the case description sent by the other party this time, he immediately became interested.

The actual problem the other party sought help with in this case was different: since the husband was a rider, there was an issue of labor relationship recognition.

Work-related injury can only be recognized after the labor relationship is established. The other party had filed for labor arbitration but failed, as the Arbitration Committee determined that no labor relationship existed.

So, with no other options, she came to Zhou Yun. The 48-hour issue was something Zhou Yun himself noticed; that's a later challenge.

However, Zhou Yun didn't mind; a case is only interesting if it has difficulties. If Old Zhuang could handle a case... then it wouldn't be interesting at all.

Soon, Zhou Yun sent a message to the netizen: "Hello, I've taken your case. I'll contact you later. Is the phone number in the materials correct?"

Meanwhile, in Changhua District, Anping City, Hexi Province, Sun Yiling, thirty-six years old this year, was busy at work, but her reddened eyes showed that she had not been doing well recently.

As the saying goes, no one knows whether tomorrow or an accident will come first. Before this, Sun Yiling never imagined that her husband would pass away at this age.

Her husband was a bit older than her, thirty-eight, and had been laid off. He couldn't find a job, so he could only deliver food.

But he had only been working for half a year when the accident happened.

During the previous rescue efforts, someone had told her that if things weren't looking good, it might be better to give up on resuscitation early; perhaps then it could still be recognized as a work-related injury.

However, looking at her husband lying on the hospital bed, she truly couldn't make that decision. If a person dies, everything is gone.

Ultimately, it was her in-laws who arrived and decided to give up treatment.

She had originally thought that it might be difficult to get it recognized as a work-related injury due to the duration of the rescue, but she never expected that it wouldn't even reach that step; they couldn't even confirm the labor relationship.

She had hired a lawyer for the previous arbitration, but they lost directly, so she had no choice but to send a private message to Zhou Yun.

Now, Sun Yiling basically didn't trust other lawyers much anymore, especially since filing a lawsuit was truly expensive.

But she also knew that it was basically impossible to get an appointment with Zhou Yun, so she had also been looking for lawyers in the Imperial Capital and the Demon Capital during this time.

Just then, Sun Yiling heard a notification sound. She secretly checked to make sure no one was looking, quickly opened her phone, and then discovered a private message from Lawyer Zhou!

Lawyer Zhou is willing to take my case? Sun Yiling instantly became excited and quickly replied: "The contact information is fine, you can call me directly or add me on WeChat, either is fine with me!"

Perhaps she was too excited, or perhaps she had been on her phone for too long, but a company leader happened to see her.

"Sun Yiling, what are you doing? Are you never going to stop looking at your phone during work hours?" the leader said.

He paused, then added: "We all know about the trouble your family has been through, but this is work time, right? Work must come first. You can't just keep playing on your phone, can you?"

Sun Yiling was about to apologize as she usually would, but then she had a thought and said, "Manager Fang, well... my husband had an accident, didn't he? It's very difficult to assert our rights now."

"I found Lawyer Zhou Yun from Jinghai City online to help..."

What? Zhou Yun?

Manager Fang's voice instantly changed: "He's really helping you? Isn't he extremely busy?"

Sun Yiling opened her private message on her phone and said, "Manager Fang, look, Lawyer Zhou has already replied to me. He said he's very interested in my family's case. See this..."

Manager Fang's face broke into a smile: "Well, you know, it's normal to contact a lawyer when your family has trouble. It's fine, take your time contacting him. If anything comes up, ask for leave promptly; the company understands."

After speaking, Manager Fang quickly left... That was Zhou Yun, after all; he certainly didn't want to deal with that person.

Watching her leader quickly disappear, Sun Yiling smiled slightly, but soon her worried expression returned. Fortunately, with Lawyer Zhou, there should be some hope.

About half an hour later, her phone rang. Sun Yiling took her phone and went to the restroom to answer.

Soon, a voice came from the phone: "Hello, is this Ms. Sun? I'm Zhou Yun, we chatted earlier in private messages. Do you have time now?"

Hearing this voice, Sun Yiling quickly said, "Yes, I have time, I have time. Lawyer Zhou, please ask whatever you want."

On the other end of the phone, in the law firm office, Zhou Yun said, "Alright, I'm just going to quickly confirm the situation with you. You're sure you want me to take this case, right?"

"My fees won't be too expensive, but to be honest, your case is very troublesome, and we're not from the same place, so we can't do legal aid. So you'll have to pay first, no problem, right?"

Labor disputes cannot be handled on a contingency basis, so theoretically, the other party must pay.

This was normal, and Sun Yiling quickly said, "Lawyer Zhou, no problem. My family... should be able to scrape together some more money."

How to scrape it together? By borrowing from her parents and relatives and friends on her side. This was the only way; she had already borrowed from all her in-laws' relatives and friends.

Zhou Yun didn't say anything else on the phone, only, "Alright then. Someone will add you on WeChat later. You can sign the electronic contract via the mini-program, pay the fee, and I'll depart first thing tomorrow morning."

"One more thing I need to confirm with you: I remember food delivery riders buy insurance every day, right? Have you asked them? Has the insurance company paid out?"