Ethical Issues
Samsung’s Ethical Issues Against Employees
One of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers, Samsung Electronics is also South Korea's top electronics company. It makes many kinds of consumer devices, including DVD players, digital TVs, and digital still cameras; computers, color monitors, LCD panels, and printers and communications devices ranging from wireless handsets and smartphones to networking gear. However there is downside in that huge successful company as every others have. A South Korean government agency has said that working at a Samsung Electronics factory caused the breast cancer of a worker who died earlier this year, only the second time it has recognised a link between cancer and the giant Korean company’s chip plants.
The Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service, which is part of the labor ministry, ruled earlier April 2012 that there was a “considerable causal relationship” between the woman’s cancer and her five years of work at a semiconductor plant near Seoul. The ruling didn’t become public until few days later when the agency announced compensation for the woman’s family.
Samsung spokesman James Chung said it will not appeal against the government’s decision. The company is the world’s largest maker of computer memory chips.
There have been very few cases in South Korea in which a link between working conditions and cancer has been convincingly demonstrated. Nearly 30 South Koreans have filed claims with the agency that working at Samsung caused rare forms of disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and brain tumours. Another dozen people whose claims were rejected by the agency have filed court appeals.
The woman, whose last name is Kim, died in March, aged 36, three years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Ms Kim worked for Samsung from 1995 to 2000. Her first name was not released at her family’s request. The agency didn’t say how much compensation was paid, but spokesman Kang Byung-soo said it usually amounts
One of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers, Samsung Electronics is also South Korea's top electronics company. It makes many kinds of consumer devices, including DVD players, digital TVs, and digital still cameras; computers, color monitors, LCD panels, and printers and communications devices ranging from wireless handsets and smartphones to networking gear. However there is downside in that huge successful company as every others have. A South Korean government agency has said that working at a Samsung Electronics factory caused the breast cancer of a worker who died earlier this year, only the second time it has recognised a link between cancer and the giant Korean company’s chip plants.
The Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service, which is part of the labor ministry, ruled earlier April 2012 that there was a “considerable causal relationship” between the woman’s cancer and her five years of work at a semiconductor plant near Seoul. The ruling didn’t become public until few days later when the agency announced compensation for the woman’s family.
Samsung spokesman James Chung said it will not appeal against the government’s decision. The company is the world’s largest maker of computer memory chips.
There have been very few cases in South Korea in which a link between working conditions and cancer has been convincingly demonstrated. Nearly 30 South Koreans have filed claims with the agency that working at Samsung caused rare forms of disease, cancer, multiple sclerosis and brain tumours. Another dozen people whose claims were rejected by the agency have filed court appeals.
The woman, whose last name is Kim, died in March, aged 36, three years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Ms Kim worked for Samsung from 1995 to 2000. Her first name was not released at her family’s request. The agency didn’t say how much compensation was paid, but spokesman Kang Byung-soo said it usually amounts