[2021 National Audit] When Employers Were Prevented from Requiring 'Industrial Accident Insurance Waivers'... Special Employment Type Enrollment Rate Soars to 99.9%

Subscription Rate Rises from 10% to 99.9%

No Woong-rae "Minimum Safety Measures Established"

On August 29, a memorial space for platform delivery riders was set up in front of Seolleung Station in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. On the 26th of the same month, a rider was killed after being hit by a truck on a road near Seolleung Station. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] After changing the system to prevent employers from forcing special employment workers (SEWs), such as insurance planners, to sign so-called 'industrial accident insurance waiver agreements,' the industrial accident insurance enrollment rate has surged.

According to data received by Roh Woong-rae, a member of the Environment and Labor Committee of the National Assembly from the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 6th, the industrial accident insurance enrollment rate for SEWs was in the low teens, such as 12% in 2017 and 13% in 2018, but it sharply rose to 99.98% since last July. Earlier in July, the government raised the threshold so that SEWs could only be excluded from industrial accident insurance coverage if they were on leave for more than one month due to injury, illness, pregnancy, childbirth, or childcare, or if the employer was on leave for more than one month due to natural disasters, calamities, or infectious disease outbreaks. This system improvement was made to eradicate the practice of employers coercing SEWs to forgo industrial accident insurance enrollment.

According to Roh's office, as of last July, out of 698,361 SEWs, all but 104 were enrolled in industrial accident insurance. Roh emphasized, "Although SEWs are directly exposed to risks more than anyone else, their industrial accident insurance enrollment rate had been maintained at a very low level in the low teens. The fact that almost all SEWs have enrolled in industrial accident insurance since July is evidence that they did not voluntarily forgo industrial accident insurance due to unavoidable circumstances but were coerced by employers to do so."

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