The judgment below

The part against Plaintiff A and B related to lost earnings is reversed, and this part of the case is remanded.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

1. Regarding maximum working age

A. In the Supreme Court en banc Decision 88Meu16867 Decided December 26, 1989 (hereinafter “former en banc Decision”), the Supreme Court discarded the existing position that deemed the maximum working age of a person engaged in ordinary physical labor or a person engaged mainly in physical labor (hereinafter “physical labor”) as 55 years in light of the empirical rule.

It has maintained the view that the maximum working age of physical labor should be 60 years in light of the empirical rule.

However, as the social economic structure and living conditions in Korea rapidly improve and develop and improve the legal system, the circumstances that served as the basis of the above empirical rule at the time of the previous en banc Decision have been significantly changed as follows, making it difficult to maintain the above view as above.

Now, barring special circumstances, deeming that it is possible to operate between the age of 60 and 65 even by the age of 65 is in accord with the empirical rule.

(1) The average life expectancy of the people (based on zero years of age) was 67.0 years for male (based on 1989) and 75.3 years for female (based on 79.0 years of age for male, 85.2 years of age for female in 2015, and 79.7 years of age for male and 85.7 years of age for female in 2017.

(2) Korea’s GDPR per capita (domestic total production) was USD 6,516 at the time of the previous en banc Decision (1989), but exceeded USD 27,000 in 2015 and exceeded USD 30,000 in 2018.

(3) At the time of the previous en banc Decision, the retirement age of railroad workers, civil engineering workers, building workers, and machinery workers, who mainly engage in physical business, among public officials in technical service, was 58 years of age under the Act. However, since 2013, most of the retirement age of public officials, including public officials in technical service, was extended to 60 years of age.

Article 74(1) of the State Public Officials Act (amended by Act No. 9113 and enforced January 1, 2009; Article 74(1) and (2) of its Addenda; and Article 9301 of its Act (amended by Act No. 9309)

1.1. The Local Public Officials Act, effective from January 1.