[Summary translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

Decision № 118205493, 08.04.2024, Zhovtnevyi District Court of Kryvyi Rih City

On March 4, 2024, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Private Joint-Stock Company Sukha Balka (hereinafter Sukha Balka). He claimed that from September 1993 to November 2019, he worked at Sukha Balka’s Frunze mine as an underground electric gas welder, in hazardous underground conditions with a full workday. He was dismissed on November 27, 2019, due to health issues.
On January 25, 2024, a medical board (LEC of the Ukrainian Research Institute of Industrial Medicine) diagnosed him with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), stage III, including dust bronchitis, lung emphysema (both stage III), classified as Group E, with stage III pulmonary insufficiency, chronic pulmonary heart disease, and stage I heart failure. On February 20, 2024, the Medical-Social Expert Commission (MSEC) determined a 60% loss of professional work capacity and gave Group III disability permanently.

The court partially upheld the plaintiff's claim for moral damages due to loss of work capacity from the occupational disease. Sukha Balka was ordered to pay 320,000 UAH in moral damages, without income tax deductions.