Companies using devious methods to avoid new labor law

Posted on : 2007-05-02 16:06 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

Hwang, a 45 year-old part-time worker for a discount chain store in Gangnam, Seoul, was dumbfounded upon seeing an employment contract on April 30, a day before May Day. As recently as last month she had been told she would work until May 18. According to a contract that was late in coming and had only then been laid out by the company, the contract period was just a month from May 19 to June 19. Hwang has received 860,000 won (US$ 925) every month for working seven or eight hours a day.

Two months ahead of the day the new law on irregular workers takes effect ,companies are giving workers "super short-term" contracts. Once the new law takes effect in July, irregular workers employed for two years or more are supposed to be given regular contracts as regular workers. Employers are using devious methods to avoid having to formally hire their employees

Cheon Ok-ja, 61, has done the cleaning at Kyunggi Girls High School for 22 years. On February 28, the school suddenly forced her sign a two-month contract. The school said that it would outsource its cleaning needs. When Cheon refused to sign the contract, the school refused to allow her to enter the school. She says she begged school authorities for her job back but to no avail.

In addition to "super short-term" contracts, there is even something critics call "zero month contracts." Hwang says he has signed one-month contracts several times over and "even signed contracts that don't have stated contract periods." One office staff member at Hwang's discount store said sometimes contract periods are left blank until contracts are approved by senior executives, who then fill in the contract period.

Park Seong-u, a certified public attorney with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), said that not stating the period of a contract "means companies can fire irregular-workers whenever they want."

Oh Min-gyu, an official of an umbrella group for trade unions of the nation's irregular workers, said, "Companies are laying off massive numbers of irregular workers ahead of the date the new law takes effect."

"Contract workers in the financial industry, some public sectors, and the distribution industry are having their livelihoods threatened," said Oh.

The National Assembly passed legislation to protect the irregular workers, but even those in public institutions cannot avoid being part of massive layoffs. According to data from Seoul's city government, as of March, none of the 142 irregular employees at Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation will be granted regular work status.

The Korea Employers Federation, a business group, has distributed guidelines containing ways to evade provisions it believes are unfavorable to business in the new law.

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