Minister Lee Jae-gap: "Special Employment Injury Insurance Enrollment, Abolishing Exclusivity is the Right Direction... Under Consideration"

Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, stated on the 26th that it is desirable to abolish the exclusivity criterion (the condition that labor must be provided mainly to one company) applied to the industrial accident insurance enrollment for workers in special types of employment (Special Employment Workers, SEWs).

Minister Lee made this remark in response to a related inquiry by Lim Jong-sung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, during a comprehensive audit of the Ministry of Employment and Labor held at the Government Sejong Complex on the same day.

Minister Lee said, "Abolishing exclusivity is the right direction, but doing so would require significant changes in the application, collection, and management system of industrial accident insurance, so we are considering it carefully."

Under current law, the exclusivity criterion applies to industrial accident insurance for SEWs, making it difficult for SEWs who provide labor to multiple companies to enroll in the insurance. Accordingly, only 13 designated substitute drivers, who work under contracts with multiple companies, are registered as industrial accident insurance subscribers.

Assemblyman Lim suggested that the situation is similar for platform workers such as delivery riders, proposing, "Even as a temporary measure, it is necessary to establish a union of substitute driving companies or a union of delivery agencies to place the exclusivity of SEWs within such a union."

Minister Lee responded, "Platform workers have characteristics specific to each job category," adding, "We will actively consider establishing an insurance management system tailored to these characteristics."

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