Employment of Government-Certified Home Helpers, Labor Law Protection

Passage of Domestic Worker Act in National Assembly... Labor Standards Act Applied After 70 Years
Possibility of Fee Increase Due to Social Insurance Enrollment... Ministry of Labor "Preparing Support Measures"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Starting next year, people who provide household services such as cleaning, laundry, and caregiving will be able to be employed by government-certified agencies and receive benefits such as paid holidays and annual paid leave.

On the 21st, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that the bill for the "Act on the Improvement of Employment of Domestic Workers" (Domestic Workers Act) passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on the same day. The law will be enforced one year after its promulgation.

The core content of the law is to ensure that people providing household services are employed as workers by government-certified agencies and protected under labor laws such as the Labor Standards Act and the Minimum Wage Act. Until now, household services were provided through job placement agencies or personal introductions, making quality assurance difficult, and workers were in a blind spot of labor laws, resulting in poor working conditions. With the increase in dual-income households and the growing demand for household services, the need to regulate the market order has also increased.

To strengthen not only the quality but also the trust and responsibility of household services, a certification system for service-providing agencies has been introduced. Household service agencies must have means for compensation and grievance handling to receive certification. People with criminal records such as sexual offenses are prohibited from providing child care services. Users of household services enter into a usage contract with the service-providing agency.

Household service workers are employed as workers by the service-providing agencies. The employment contract specifies working conditions such as wages, minimum working hours, paid holidays, and annual paid leave. The working hours of domestic workers must be at least 15 hours per week. If it is difficult to calculate working hours, the time specified in the contract between the household service agency and the user is considered working hours. Domestic workers are also covered by social insurance such as employment insurance and industrial accident insurance. This provides a safety net in case of unemployment or industrial accidents. A Ministry of Employment and Labor official stated, "We plan to prepare government support measures to respond to the potential increase in labor costs and service fees due to the short-term increase in social insurance enrollment of domestic workers."

Although the Labor Standards Act excludes "domestic servants," referring to household service workers, from its application, this provision does not apply to domestic workers under the Domestic Workers Act. This means that for the first time in about 70 years since the Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1953, domestic workers will be protected under the Labor Standards Act. Even after the Domestic Workers Act is enforced, the existing methods of providing household services through job placement agencies will still be allowed. Employment Minister An Kyung-duk expressed his expectations, saying, "The enactment of the Domestic Workers Act is significant in protecting domestic workers who have been in the blind spot of labor laws and social insurance for 70 years and will serve as an opportunity to revitalize the high-quality household service market."

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