“Specially employed workers” entitled to same rights as other workers, Supreme Court rules

Posted on : 2018-06-17 12:52 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Estimated 2.3 millions employees will be affected by decision  
Members of the National Workbook Industry Union hold a press conference in front of the Supreme Court of Korea in Seoul’s District on June 15 to protest unjust terminations of home study instructors by education companies and to demand the protection of home study  instructors’ labor rights.
Members of the National Workbook Industry Union hold a press conference in front of the Supreme Court of Korea in Seoul’s District on June 15 to protest unjust terminations of home study instructors by education companies and to demand the protection of home study instructors’ labor rights.

Even as “specially employed workers,” home study instructors are entitled to recognition as workers according to the Trade Union Act with guarantees on the rights to organization, collective action, and collective bargaining, the Supreme Court ruled.

The decision is expected to affect improvements to rights of South Korea’s estimated 2.3 million specially employed workers. Members of the category, which includes home study instructors, insurance designers, and ready-mixed concrete engineers, had previously fallen into a blind spot in terms of the three major Constitutionally guaranteed labor rights.

The ruling by the Supreme Court’s third division presided by the Hon. Jo Hee-dae came on June 15 in an appellate hearing for a wrongful dismissal case filed by the National Workbook Industry Union and nine dismissed JEI workers – including one surnamed Yu - against the National Labor Relations Commission, claiming “improper labor actions” in the termination of contracts for reasons of union activity.

The Supreme Court overturned the previous verdict against the plaintiffs and returned the case to Seoul High Court to rule partially in favor of the plaintiffs.

“While home study instructors are not considered ‘workers’ by the Labor Standards Act, they do correspond to workers in terms of the Trade Union Act,” the court said.

“The termination of JEI project contracts for some of the home study instructors was an improper labor action,” it concluded.

While the Supreme Court has stated in the past that the scope of workers recognized by the Trade Union Act is broader than that recognized by the Labor Standards Act – as in a 2014 decision recognizing the status of golf course caddies as workers according to the Labor Standards Act – it has not drawn a distinction in most of its cases.

But with its latest ruling, the Supreme Court declared that protections on the three major labor rights may be granted as needed according to precedent to workbook instructors as workers according to the Trade Union Act, even if they are not counted as workers by the Labor Standards Act. It also stated that the determination of worker status according to the Trade Union Act “should be based on comprehensive consideration, with indicators of economic and organizational dependence serving as major elements.” At the same time, it did not recognize the termination of contracts on the basis of participation in illegal dispute tactics as an “improper labor action.”

Between August and December 2010, JEI ended contracts with nine union members who had been conducting a sit-down strike since Dec. 2007 to demand the company agree to collective bargaining.

By Yeo Hyeon-ho, senior staff writer

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

button that move to original korean article (클릭시 원문으로 이동하는 버튼)

Related stories

Most viewed articles