Illegal Dispatch and Discrimination Supervision of Non-Regular Workers... Starting April in Food and Alcohol Manufacturing Industries

Thoroughly Inspect Wage and Working Hours Discrimination Between Regular and Non-Regular Workers
Supervise Illegal Dispatch in Industries with High Employment of Vulnerable Groups

Members and attendees of the OB direct store branch of the Bucheon area under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions held a press conference on the afternoon of February 25 in front of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul, urging the implementation of a labor inspection over allegations of illegal dispatch of subcontracted workers at 23 OB Beer direct stores nationwide. (Image source=Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government will begin regular inspections of non-regular workers starting from the 1st of this month. They will examine cases where non-regular workers have been discriminated against by being given different wages and working hours compared to regular workers, or where illegal dispatch has occurred. Unlike previous years, when 48 local employment and labor offices nationwide were asked to inspect an unspecified number of companies, this year specific industries for investigation have been pre-selected to improve the efficiency of the inspections. The first target is food and alcoholic beverage manufacturing companies.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has established a principle to focus on whether industries that employ many young people, women, and elderly workers are complying well with the Dispatch Act. The food and alcoholic beverage manufacturing industry is a representative sector with a high proportion of female workers. However, since many companies are experiencing difficulties due to the COVID-19 crisis, inspections will mainly target companies producing home meal replacements (HMR) and retort foods, which have been relatively less affected due to the expansion of non-face-to-face consumption.

Considering that workplaces employing dispatched workers are often scattered nationwide, the inspection method will be changed. Instead of local offices conducting broad investigations to increase the number of detected cases as in previous years, the plan is to enhance the efficiency of inspections so that non-regular workers can tangibly feel improvements in their working conditions.

Kang Geom-yun, Director of Employment Discrimination Improvement at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, stated, "Since illegal dispatch and discrimination correction inspections involve many factors to consider, we will thoroughly prepare in advance to increase the effectiveness of the inspections." He emphasized, "Starting with the food and alcoholic beverage manufacturing industry, we will focus on major workplaces in industries with a high proportion of vulnerable employment groups and actively promote improvements in employment structure and treatment."

The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to conduct two to three more rounds of regular inspections regarding illegal dispatch and discrimination against non-regular workers. A ministry official said, "Currently, it is not possible to conduct harsh inspections on specially supported employment sectors such as the aviation industry," adding, "Although it is difficult to disclose which industries will be inspected and when in the future, we plan to conduct two to three more rounds of inspections this year."

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