Public opinion on the expansion of the Labor Standards Act for "less than five employees" and unpaid wages for unfair dismissal are driven into blind spots.
Public opinion is rising that the Labor Standards Act should be expanded to small workplaces with "less than five employees." It is reported that damage accidents by workers, such as overuse of power at work, unfair dismissal, failure to comply with recess hours, infringement of the right to rest, and overdue wages, have continued to occur at small workplaces with "less than five employees."
In particular, the largest number of workers are injured and killed in industrial accidents, but they are left in a safety blind spot because "less than five" workplaces are hung under the most difficult conditions to demand safety management in the legal system.
Above all, it violates the current law, such as not subscribing to the four major insurances, and there is a limit to legal and systematic relief even if workers are injured by industrial accidents, unfair layoffs, or overdue wages. According to an analysis of 216 e-mail reports received from workers identified at workplaces with less than five employees from January 2020 to June 2023, 68 percent said they experienced infringement of their right to live, including dismissal wages. The survey was conducted in the order of 100 cases (46.2%) of infringement of personal rights to harassment at work, including unfair dismissal, unpaid wages, 44 cases (20.3%) of violations of the current law, and 14 cases of infringement of rest rights such as working hours leave (6.4%). Workplace Gapjil 119 pointed out the reality that workers at workplaces with less than five employees are not protected by the Serious Accident Punishment Act in addition to layoffs and wages.
According to quarterly industrial accident statistics by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Corporation, 33.3% (22,694) of all victims and 35% (231) of deaths were workers at workplaces with less than five employees as of September 2020.
Therefore, the need to revise the system to expand to small workplaces under the Labor Standards Act has been weighed. As a result, the ruling party and the government have begun reviewing the implementation of the system, citing the need to expand the Labor Standards Act with "less than five employees." The government's ruling party's special committee on labor reform will hold a plenary session to discuss ways to apply the Labor Standards Act to workplaces with less than five employees.
This is due to the need for social consensus and expanded implementation in improving the treatment of workers in the blind spot of the Labor Standards Act. By expanding the implementation of the Labor Standards Act to small workplaces, measures to correct the unreasonable working environment of workers were included in the main task. There are 3,138,284 workers (as of 2021), accounting for 17.3% of the total.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor, the competent ministry, has put the expansion of the Labor Standards Act for "less than five" workplaces as an implementation task in its 2023 work promotion plan.
Burden of the Labor Standards Act for "less than 5 employees" and urge energy support measures.
Small business owners are determined to expand the Labor Standards Act, saying that it is unreasonable to apply the current Labor Standards Act to small workplaces with "less than five employees." This is because the expanded application of the Labor Standards Act will incur additional costs for overtime, holiday work, night work allowances, and annual leave.
This also includes the reason that small business owners should bear all administrative management costs due to restrictions on employee dismissal, written notice, and applications for unfair dismissal relief. Small business groups are taking action to freeze the minimum wage and implement the differential application of the Labor Standards Act by industry. The Korea Federation of Small Businesses expressed regret over the plan to expand the Labor Standards Act to workplaces with less than five employees and clearly expressed its opposition to the application.
The groups pointed out that the expansion of the Labor Standards Act is pushing small business owners to close down, noting that the COVID-19 emergency loan repayment grace period ends in September at a time when electricity and gas costs are soaring and fear of turning on air conditioners even in the heat wave.
The expansion of the Labor Standards Act for "less than five" workplaces is urging the withdrawal, saying it is an act that not only increases the management burden on small business owners but also brands them as potential criminals. In addition, government support measures for energy usage fees for small business owners were ordered. This is because the increase in energy usage fees such as electricity and gas has added to the burden of spending on small business owners. It suggested that electricity prices have increased by nearly 40% since last year.
Therefore, it is argued that small business owners should be included in the government's support for the energy-vulnerable class.
In addition, small business groups are calling for the incorporation of electricity bills used in small businesses into industrial use, which is relatively less burdensome.
