hankyoreh

By Hwang Chun-hwa　

A court ruled Thursday that a deportation order for a Filipino migrant worker without sufficient grounds was in violation of the law. In its ruling, the court said foreign workers should be granted the same labor right guarantees as South Korean workers.

The twelfth administrative division of Seoul Administrative Court ruled Thursday in favor of Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade Union (MTU) President Michel Catuira, 39, in a suit he filed against the Seoul Immigration Office requesting the cancellation of a “deportation order and other administrative measures.” In its ruling, the court said that it was “improper to issue a deportation order on grounds of false employment.”

The court stated, “It appears that the workplace with which Katuira signed a labor contract did in fact exist, and there is no evidence to conclude that he received sojourn permission through improper means or violated the Immigration Control Act.”

“Indeed, [the defendant] abused its discretionary authority, failing to guarantee even a three-month job-seeking period after the end of the labor contract as guaranteed by the Employment of Foreign Nationals Act,” the court added. “In light of the Constitution and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is proper to acknowledge basic rights of solidarity and collective action for foreign workers who have been incorporated into South Korean society.”

“Given that migrant workers’ union officials have received forcible eviction orders from the Immigration Office in the past, there are suspicions that in spite of the ostensible reasons, the Immigration Office’s measures may in fact be attributable to the plaintiff’s activities as head of a migrant workers’ union,” the court added.

Catuira immigrated to South Korea in 2006 and worked in cities such as Bucheon, Gyeonggi, before being elected president of the migrant workers’ union in July 2009. In March, the Seoul Immigartion Office issued a deportation order for Catuira on grounds of false employment, contending that the factory at which he reported working did not exist and that he was not engaged in labor activity as a foreign worker. Catuira filed the lawsuit in response to the decision.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]