산업재해보상보험법상 장해연금의 법적 성질 및 장해등급에 대한 미국과 비교

Many laws define disability pension in Korea. For instance, there are Public Officials Pension Act, National Pension Act, Veterans’ Pension Act, Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, and so on. If the requirements of these laws are satisfied, disability pension will be given to eligible person. These laws are used in causal manner without a clear definition or analysis of the essence or nature of disability pension. As a result, different laws present different concepts of disability pension. However, if the legal nature and definition of disability pension differ from law to law, people are confused. That is, if different legal results are found, the credibility on the law will be lost and the legal stability will be compromised. Also, the disability grade according to the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act is 14. But, there is no reasonable explanation for the disability rating that is 14 grades under this act. Therefore, it is required to point out the problems of the disability rating and make an alternative for the reasonable disability rating. Furthermore, it is necessary to define a unified and comprehensive concept or nature of disability pension. On this occasion, first, comparison was made between the legal characteristics of Pension Act and the disability pension in the United States, which are prescribed from a different point of view. Based on these studies, problems of Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act were highlighted and presented with a plan to solve them. That is, through comparative studies between Korea and the United States, a basic system was provided for the future revision of disability benefits under Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act or research. Furthermore, by presenting the legal nature of disability pension to the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court was provided with a theory to make logical and systematic decisions in its proceedings against disability pension in the future. Ultimately, this study helped disabled workers lead happy lives, trusting the law, without having any uneasy circumstances about the amount of disability that could fluctuate.