Check Korea’s musculoskeletal work-relatedness presumption criteria
After a diagnosis such as lumbar disc herniation or a rotator cuff tear, a useful first step is to organize the work history and medical records relevant to occupational causation.
This calculator compares the condition, occupation, verified service and post-work diagnosis interval with Annex 1 of Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor notice.
It organizes service at different workplaces into a consistent years-and-months format and identifies mismatches and missing evidence.
Use the result to prepare evidence
Review any missing months and unconfirmed conditions, then gather records of actual duties, service, cessation of demanding work and the first diagnosis for the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service, or COMWEL.
The result should not determine insurance handling or lead someone to abandon an application.
It does not diagnose a disease or estimate an approval probability.
1. Confirm the 2026 Korean version and the diagnosed condition
This is a Korea-specific tool using Ministry of Employment and Labor Notice No. 2026-14, effective 2026-02-23.
The current notice and annex were checked through the official Korean law API on 2026-11-06.
The implemented version checks first diagnosis dates from 2026-02-23 through 2026-12-31 and holds other dates for a review of the version applicable at that time.
This implementation range is not a statutory application window.
Select the diagnosis recorded by a medical provider rather than choosing from the location of pain alone.
Rotator cuff tendinitis and a rotator cuff tear, or general knee pain and a meniscal tear, should not automatically be treated as identical conditions.
Keep an unlisted condition outside the table comparison and ask about individual assessment.
For multiple conditions, organize the relevant occupation and history separately for each diagnosis.
2. The eight conditions and their duration criteria
The service and diagnosis intervals below apply in combination with the occupation listed for each condition.
Both “or more” and “within” include the boundary.
Conditions affecting the same body part can use different periods: carpal tunnel syndrome uses 2 years and 6 months, while De Quervain disease uses 1 year and 2 months.
Eight conditions, minimum service and post-work first-diagnosis intervals in Annex 1 of Korean Notice No. 2026-14| Body part | Condition | Minimum service | Diagnosis interval |
|---|
| Neck | Cervical disc herniation | 10 years or more | Within 12 months |
| Shoulder | Rotator cuff tear | 10 years or more | Within 12 months |
| Elbow | Medial/lateral epicondylitis | 1 year or more | Within 2 months |
| Hand/wrist | Carpal tunnel syndrome | 2 years or more | Within 6 months |
| Hand/wrist | Triangular fibrocartilage complex tear (TFCC) | 5 years or more | Within 12 months |
| Hand/wrist | De Quervain disease | 1 year or more | Within 2 months |
| Lower back | Lumbar disc herniation | 10 years or more | Within 12 months |
| Knee | Meniscal tear | 5 years or more | Within 12 months |
The service threshold concerns verified time in the listed physically demanding occupation.
It is not a minimum employment duration that excludes every other route to occupational disease recognition.
3. Match the occupation together with its industry
Welding or painting in construction, shipbuilding and automotive work can represent different listed occupations.
Check the industry and actual duties together.
The annex notes that its occupation names may differ from the Korean Standard Classification of Occupations and that COMWEL determines their detailed definitions.
The English labels below explain the Korean table; similar English job titles do not establish equivalence.
Cervical disc herniation — 경추간판탈출증
- Construction: welders, pipefitters, formwork carpenters, electricians, plasterers, painters, light steel frame workers
- Shipbuilding: welders, pipefitters, fitters, grinding/finishing workers, painters
- Automotive mechanics; manufacturing welders
Rotator cuff tear — 회전근개파열
- Construction: welders, pipefitters, formwork carpenters, stone workers, electricians, plasterers, painters, light steel frame workers, sash assembly and installation workers, interior workers, civil engineering workers, bricklayers, tilers, concrete surface finishing workers, tunnel workers, conduit/pipeline workers, wallpaper installers, scaffolders
- Shipbuilding: welders, pipefitters, fitters, grinding/finishing workers, painters, scaffolders, machinery assemblers, electrical outfitting workers, outfitting installation workers
- Automotive: component assemblers, outfitting assemblers, mechanics, painters, engine assemblers
- Tires: tire builders, extrusion workers, mixing workers, bead workers, inspectors, cutting workers
- Liquor and beverage delivery workers; waste collectors including recycling; institutional food-service cooks; manufacturing welders; furniture manufacturers including delivery; butchers; supermarket sales workers; dock cargo handlers; moving workers
Medial/lateral epicondylitis — 내(외)상과염
- Construction: welders, formwork carpenters, reinforcing steel workers
- Shipbuilding: welders, fitters, grinding/finishing workers, painters
- Automotive: component assemblers, outfitting assemblers
- Tires: curing workers, mixing workers, tire builders, extrusion workers, inspectors
- Manufacturing welders; cooks; institutional food-service cooks; food-service workers; butchers; waste collectors including recycling; building cleaners
Carpal tunnel syndrome — 수근관증후군
- Construction: welders, formwork carpenters, stone workers, plasterers
- Automotive: mechanics, outfitting assemblers
- Shipbuilding: welders, fitters, painters
- Manufacturing welders; cooks; institutional food-service cooks; food-service workers; kitchen assistants; butchers; guest-room cleaners
TFCC tear — 삼각섬유연골복합체파열
- Automotive: component assemblers, outfitting assemblers
- Institutional food-service cooks
- Tires: curing workers, mixing workers, tire builders, extrusion workers, inspectors
De Quervain disease — 드퀘르벵
- Automotive: component assemblers, outfitting assemblers
- Cooks; institutional food-service cooks; bakers
Lumbar disc herniation — 요추간판탈출증
- Construction: welders, pipefitters, formwork carpenters, stone workers, electricians, steel frame workers, heavy equipment operators, reinforcing steel workers
- Shipbuilding: welders, pipefitters, fitters, grinding/finishing workers, painters, electrical outfitting workers
- Automotive mechanics; tire builders; tire curing workers; manufacturing welders; waste collectors including recycling; train mechanics; live-line distribution electricians
Meniscal tear — 반월상연골파열
- Construction: welders, pipefitters, formwork carpenters, stone workers, electricians, reinforcing steel workers, plasterers, scaffolders
- Shipbuilding: welders, pipefitters, fitters, grinding/finishing workers, painters, outfitting assemblers, ship lofting/carpentry workers (심출·철목공), electrical outfitting workers, cutting workers, insulation workers, scaffolders, ship repair workers
- Manufacturing welders; parcel delivery workers; moving workers; waste collectors including recycling; childcare-center teachers
The original lower-back table uses the wording 타이어 가류 for tire curing, and the knee table includes 심출·철목공 for the listed shipbuilding work.
Confirm the original Korean occupation and its actual duties where terminology is unclear.
The current 2026 table includes construction scaffolders for rotator cuff tears and construction reinforcing steel workers, shipbuilding electrical outfitting workers, tire curing workers and live-line distribution electricians for lumbar disc herniation.
An unlisted occupation does not match the table route but can still require individual work-relatedness assessment.
4. Enter verified completed years and months by workplace
Use separate rows for different workplaces or occupations.
A private label such as Workplace A is sufficient; personal identifiers and a company’s real name are unnecessary.
For each row, enter the occupation, completed years and months confirmed from evidence, and whether the actual duties and occupational definition have been checked.
Numbers without evidence confirmation are not treated as verified service.
Reconcile exclusions before adding service
- Avoid counting overlapping employment dates twice
- Check leave and other periods without the relevant work
- Separate transfers and duties outside the selected condition’s list
- Compare the contractual job title with the work actually performed
The final comparison remains on hold until overlapping time, leave and unrelated duties have been excluded and confirmed.
Years are entered as whole numbers from 0–60 and months from 0–11; a blank entry is different from a verified zero.
The maximum 20 rows is a screen operating limit, not a legal limit on the number of qualifying jobs.
Do not round leftover days up to a month; confirm the treatment of partial months and interrupted service with the agency.
5. Calculate verified months and the service shortfall
Verified months = Σ(completed years × 12 + completed months)
Only verified rows in occupations listed for the selected condition contribute to the verified total.
Required months equal the annex’s years × 12, and missing months = max(0, required months − verified months).
This arithmetic compares the completed years and months supplied by the user; it does not invent a statutory conversion from calendar days to qualifying years.
For example, non-overlapping verified service of 6 years and 4 years in listed occupations for a rotator cuff tear gives 72 + 48 = 120 months.
The 10-year threshold also equals 120 months, but diagnosis, occupation and diagnosis-interval conditions still need separate confirmation.
A total of 9 years 11 months is 119 months and shows a 1-month shortfall.
Do not add unverified leftover days or unrelated work simply to reach the threshold.
6. The interval ends at the first diagnosis
The annex defines the interval from the day after stopping the relevant physically demanding work to the first diagnosis of the condition.
Employment termination and cessation of those duties can occur on different dates.
Check transfers that ended demanding work before retirement, and review whether the same demanding work continued at another employer.
The first diagnosis must be checked against the medical record; it is distinct from symptom onset or the issue date of a replacement certificate.
This is not a claim deadline
The 2-, 6- and 12-month periods are diagnosis-timing conditions for this annex comparison.
Treating them as dates by which an application must be filed can misrepresent the person’s rights and evidence.
Application timing and limitation periods require a separate review and are not calculated here.
Use existing medical records and do not delay treatment or change diagnosis arrangements to fit a displayed result.
7. Distinguish continuing, stopped and unknown work status
Demanding duties continued at first diagnosis
There is no post-cessation end date to calculate when the relevant work was continuing.
Check duties at the first diagnosis rather than current employment alone.
The remaining annex conditions and verified service still require review.
Demanding duties stopped before first diagnosis
Enter the actual cessation date and first diagnosis date for a calendar-interval comparison.
A diagnosis on or before the entered cessation date causes a hold so that the work status and date relationship can be corrected or confirmed.
Leave unknown work status or a missing first diagnosis record unconfirmed rather than filling the gap with a guess.
A final comparison can remain on hold while already known shortfalls or excluded occupations are shown separately.
Unknown and insufficient are different states; a hold does not establish that the conditions have been met.
8. Reference end dates use calendar months
The notice defines the relevant interval without providing a separate fixed-day conversion.
The calculator uses the general period principles in Korean Civil Act Articles 157, 159 and 160 for its reference dates, starting at midnight on the day after cessation.
In the month reached after adding the specified months, the reference end date is the day before the corresponding starting day, if that day exists.
If it does not exist, the end date is the final day of that month.
The calculation does not treat every month as 30 days or simply use the starting day plus the number of months as the end date.
Month ends and holidays
Cessation on 2026-01-31 gives a start of 2026-02-01 and a 2-month reference end date of 2026-03-31.
Cessation on 2026-08-30 gives a start of 2026-08-31 and a 2-month end date of 2026-10-30.
Six months from that same start reaches February 2027, which has no 31st day, so the reference end date is 2027-02-28.
The last example explains calendar arithmetic and does not extend the verified first-diagnosis range into 2027.
A first diagnosis on the reference end date is included; the following day is 1 day beyond it.
The calculator does not move this diagnosis boundary to a working day because of a weekend or holiday.
The agency must confirm the relevant cessation date and actual interval treatment, especially for records at a boundary.
9. Worked examples: a boundary date and combined service
Elbow condition: the last day and the following day
Assume medial/lateral epicondylitis, 1 verified year in a listed occupation and cessation of demanding work on 2026-01-31.
One year equals the required 12 months, and the 2-month diagnosis interval starts on 2026-02-01 and has a reference end date of 2026-03-31.
A first diagnosis on 2026-03-31 is within the interval; 2026-04-01 is 1 day beyond it.
The latter result calls for individual assessment and evidence review rather than a conclusion that the claim cannot qualify.
Shoulder condition: 6 years plus 4 years
For a rotator cuff tear, verified net service of 6 years at Workplace A and 4 years at Workplace B totals 120 months.
Both occupation matches and the evidence must be confirmed, with overlapping time and leave excluded, before comparing that total with 10 years.
If B’s 4 years only represent employment or the actual duties remain unknown, a numeric input sum of 120 months does not remove the hold on the final comparison.
The screen’s lumbar example: 120 months and a first diagnosis
The fictional screen example uses lumbar disc herniation and 6 plus 4 verified net years as a construction welder.
The total is 120 months; cessation on 2026-01-31 gives a start of 2026-02-01 and a 12-month reference end date of 2027-01-31.
A first diagnosis on 2026-11-06 is inside the checked 2026 range and within that interval.
An end date in 2027 does not extend the verified rules to a future first diagnosis; the comparison remains for the entered 2026 diagnosis.
The sample button loads fictional records rather than personal history or medical evidence.
Reset the form before entering actual verified records and keep the TXT review with the supporting documents.
10. Read a table mismatch together with the individual-assessment route
Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act Article 37 addresses the causal relationship between work and disease, while Enforcement Decree Article 34 and Annex 3 item 2 cover physically demanding work and musculoskeletal conditions.
Notice I.2.d.3, written Ⅰ.2.라.3) in Korean, provides the annex route for evaluating work-relatedness as strong where condition, occupation, service and diagnosis interval match.
Even a confirmed match is not an approval document or a substitute for the actual occupational and medical assessment.
If the occupation or duration does not match, prepare the facts needed for the overall assessment under Ⅰ.2.라.1)·2).
Relevant factors include physical workload, occupational history, intermittent or non-fixed work, service duration, disease status and expert opinion.
A pre-existing condition may still need review where demanding work medically aggravated it or accelerated progression beyond its natural course.
For an episode involving sudden force, explain the event and occupational history and ask which assessment procedure applies.
11. Prepare records and follow the input sequence
- Find the exact diagnosis and first diagnosis date in the medical records, then check the version range.
- List duties by workplace and compare available evidence such as service certificates, employment-insurance history and Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association records.
- Confirm completed years and months after excluding overlaps, leave and unrelated duties, and mark each row’s evidence status.
- Check work status at the first diagnosis and the actual cessation date before comparing the annex criteria.
- Review held, insufficient and excluded items, then prepare the evidence checklist and TXT review for an inquiry to COMWEL.
Service records should be supplemented with evidence of duties
A certificate of service may not show overhead posture, repetition frequency or the weight of handled objects.
Organize available process descriptions, work logs, assignment and transfer records, work photographs and colleague statements as appropriate to the case.
Prepare imaging, examination findings and the earliest medical records with the medical provider’s explanation; uploading sensitive files to this page is unnecessary.
Family members entering information should distinguish facts they verified from information they have only been told.
12. Limits and cautions when using the result
Occupation lists and date comparisons do not replace an investigation of the actual work.
Changes in duties and intermittent demanding work can alter how service and workload need to be documented, even at the same employer.
Partial months, interrupted history and mixed occupations are not automatically converted into legally qualifying service; compare them with the agency’s confirmed approach.
The version at the first diagnosis, detailed occupation definition, medical causation and actual interval calculation remain matters for case review and future maintenance.
This tool does not calculate medical-care benefits, temporary disability benefits, disability grades, private insurance payments or claim limitation periods.
Use the related compensation calculator for a separate amount estimate and check its payment conditions independently.
Leaving unconfirmed values blank helps identify missing evidence.
Do not delay necessary care or attempt to change diagnosis dates to fit a calculated result.
13. Frequently asked questions
Does meeting all four table conditions guarantee workers’ compensation approval?
The notice provides a route for evaluating work-relatedness as strong when all four conditions are met.
Actual duties, medical causation and the authority’s assessment still matter, so this result does not establish approval.
Can I no longer apply if I left the job more than 12 months ago?
The annex interval runs from the day after stopping the physically demanding work to the first diagnosis of the condition; it is not an application deadline.
Check the original diagnosis record, and ask about individual assessment if the table route does not fit.
Can I enter all 10 years of employment in construction?
Enter only verified time actually spent in occupations listed for the selected condition.
Exclude overlapping time, leave and unrelated duties; employment in construction alone does not establish time in a particular listed occupation.
Does a medical certificate issued today make today the first diagnosis date?
The certificate issue date can differ from the first diagnosis date.
Look for earlier records of the same condition and confirm with the medical provider and the agency which record represents the first diagnosis.
Can I select stopped work while I am still employed?
The relevant question is whether the particular physically demanding work stopped.
Check any transfer to different duties before the first diagnosis, and select continuing only if the relevant work actually continued at that time.
Does an unlisted job or insufficient service mean my claim cannot qualify?
Failure to match this table does not establish ineligibility.
Prepare evidence for individual assessment of physical workload, occupational history, work pattern, service duration, the disease and expert opinion.
Does a weekend or holiday move the last day to the next business day?
The displayed date is a reference boundary for the first diagnosis, not a filing deadline.
The calculator does not extend it for holidays; confirm the actual interval calculation with the agency.
Can I rely on this result for an earlier diagnosis or a diagnosis in 2027?
This tool checks the 2026 notice for first diagnosis dates from 2026-02-23 through 2026-12-31.
Other dates require a review of the applicable version, even when a calendar example happens to end in a later year.
14. Official sources and update checks
The current act, decree and notice were checked directly through the Korean National Law Information Open API.
The current industrial accident insurance act and decree editions are effective 2026-07-01, while the notice used for the annex comparison is effective 2026-02-23.
The Korean Civil Act edition used for reference calendar arithmetic is MST284415, effective 2026-03-17.
A scheduled review of the notice does not automatically terminate its legal effect.
Checked 2026-11-06 · Jurisdiction: Republic of Korea · Rule year: 2026.
Recheck amendments, the version at the first diagnosis, COMWEL’s detailed occupational definitions and the actual interval calculation when using these results.
Start by organizing the records that need confirmation
Comparing condition, occupation, verified service, cessation and first diagnosis separately helps identify the next document to find.
Use the TXT result as a review note alongside source evidence and follow COMWEL’s process for the final occupational-injury determination.
Related tools can support a separate review of benefit amounts or work hours for another occupational disease.