Serious Accident Punishment Act Excludes Industrial Accident Application for Workplaces with Fewer Than 5 Employees

"Too Many Difficulties" Reflected in the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' Opinion

Broadcaster Kim Je-dong is meeting with Lee Yong-gwan, the father of the late PD Lee Han-bit, who is on a hunger strike in front of the National Assembly main building on the 6th, urging the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, as well as Kim Mi-sook, the mother of the late Kim Yong-gyun and chairperson of the Kim Yong-gyun Foundation. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] It has been decided that the Serious Accidents Punishment Act will not apply to workplaces with fewer than five employees.

On the 6th, Baek Hye-ryun, chairperson of the subcommittee of the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee and a member of the Democratic Party, told reporters, "We are reorganizing everything from Article 1 one by one," adding, "We have sorted out the detailed parts, and importantly, it was agreed to exclude workplaces with fewer than five employees from serious industrial accidents."

This was reported during the subcommittee meeting held following the session on the 5th. Baek said, "We discussed the difficulties faced by small and medium-sized business owners extensively, and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups mentioned that including workplaces with fewer than five employees would cause too many difficulties," adding, "After discussions among the committee members and considering the Ministry's opinion, workplaces with fewer than five employees were excluded from the serious industrial accident section." The Serious Accidents Punishment Act is composed of serious industrial accidents and serious citizen accidents.

Regarding the scope of management responsibility, Baek stated that no decision has been made yet. She said, "I think we should make a resolution by today, even if it is late."

Earlier, the Legislation and Judiciary Committee subcommittee accepted the government's proposal on 'punishment of employers and management responsible persons' to impose "up to 7 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 100 million KRW" when injuries or occupational diseases occur due to failure to fulfill safety obligations.

In the case of fatal accidents, management is to be sentenced to "at least 1 year imprisonment or a fine of up to 1 billion KRW." This is a relaxation compared to the government's proposal (at least 2 years imprisonment or a fine between 50 million and 1 billion KRW), lowering the minimum imprisonment term and removing the minimum fine. However, the provision for 'optional combined punishment,' allowing courts discretion to impose both imprisonment and fines, was included.

The clause presuming causality that defines those who caused serious accidents if safety violations are confirmed three or more times within five years is set to be deleted. Instead, if a person commits the same offense within five years after the serious accident sentence is finalized, the punishment will be increased by up to half.

Fines imposed on corporations have been set at up to 5 billion KRW for fatal accidents and up to 1 billion KRW for injuries. The same level of punishment applies to management and corporations not only for industrial accidents but also for serious citizen accidents such as the Sewol ferry disaster.

Regarding punitive damages, the maximum limit was set at five times the amount of damages. While Representative Park Jumin's proposal suggested five times as the minimum, the government's review proposal, considering it excessively heavy compared to other punitive damages laws, was adopted.

Among the remaining issues, whether to grant grace periods based on workplace size is a major point of contention. The Democratic Party's proposal is a four-year grace period for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, while the government has proposed either a two-year grace period for workplaces with 50 to 100 employees or a two-year grace period for workplaces with fewer than 300 employees.

Additionally, small business owners with fewer than 10 regular employees are excluded from the punishment under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, and multi-use facilities such as restaurants, karaoke rooms, PC rooms, and bathhouses are also exempt if their floor area is less than 1000㎡.

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