Parcel Center Labor Conditions, When Will They Improve... 243 Legal Violations and 1.2 Billion Won in Unpaid Wages

Ministry of Employment Announces Results of 'Courier Company Logistics Center Labor Inspection'
Various Allowances Unpaid to Temporary Workers... Legal Violations Detected
145 Violations of Industrial Safety and Health Act Including Non-provision of Protective Gear

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] A total of 243 labor law violations were detected at logistics centers of major domestic courier companies. It was found that unpaid wages amounted to 1.2 billion KRW. The poor working conditions of courier workers suffering from intense and long working hours have once again come to light.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 28th the results of labor inspections conducted last month on 11 large courier company logistics centers and 17 subcontractors.

Issues regarding the working conditions of workers at courier company logistics centers have been continuously raised. In labor inspections conducted in 2016 and 2018, numerous violations such as wage arrears, failure to provide break times, and illegal dispatch were detected mainly among subcontractors.

Recently, due to the surge in courier volumes caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), concerns about violations of basic labor order have increased.

As a result of this labor inspection, a total of 243 cases of labor-related law violations were detected. Among them, 98 cases were in the area of labor standards, and 145 cases were in industrial safety and health.

In the labor standards area, 15 violations were found in 8 out of 11 logistics centers of the primary courier companies, and 83 violations were found across all 17 subcontractors.

Looking specifically at violations of the Labor Standards Act, 3 companies violated laws related to working hours, and 8 companies violated laws related to break times. The 3 companies that violated working hours conducted more than 12 hours of overtime per week without written agreement with the workers' representatives.

Regarding break times, some companies failed to guarantee 11 consecutive hours of rest until the next working day or did not provide break times to short-term workers who worked more than 4 hours a day.

Additionally, all 17 subcontractors were found to have failed to pay a total of over 1.2 billion KRW in overtime, night, holiday work allowances, weekly holiday allowances, and annual leave allowances.

Cases were revealed where holiday work allowances were not paid to fixed-term workers who worked on "Labor Day," or overtime allowances were uniformly unpaid when daily overtime was less than 10 minutes.

Some subcontractors did not provide weekly holiday allowances or annual leave allowances to fixed-term workers on the grounds that they had signed daily labor contracts.

Illegal dispatch was detected in 7 companies. Cases were still found where first-tier subcontractors, entrusted by the primary courier companies with parcel sorting and loading/unloading tasks, subcontracted again to second-tier subcontractors but directly supervised and controlled the second-tier subcontractors' workers.

Asia Economy DB=Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

A total of 145 violations of the Industrial Safety and Health Act were confirmed.

The main violations included ▲ failure to implement protective measures for entanglement hazards such as conveyors (50 cases) ▲ failure to conduct health examinations for workers (11 cases) ▲ insufficient measures to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (9 cases) ▲ failure to conduct safety education (22 cases) ▲ failure to provide protective gear, etc. (53 cases).

The Ministry of Employment and Labor stated that it will promptly and strictly carry out follow-up measures based on the results of this labor inspection.

Workplaces where unauthorized dispatch was detected will be criminally charged for violating the Dispatch Act, and administrative actions such as correction orders and fines will be imposed for violations of basic labor order including wage arrears.

For courier company logistics centers excluded from the inspection, the ministry will distribute the inspection results to ensure compliance with labor laws and hold regional meetings through local labor offices.

Kim Deok-ho, head of the Labor Inspection Policy Division at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, emphasized, "Many workers engaged in courier company logistics center tasks are non-regular workers whose working conditions are weak compared to the intensity of labor, so protection is necessary."

He added, "Considering the recent surge in online delivery work due to COVID-19, we are also reviewing labor inspections for online distribution companies that have a similar structure to the courier industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.