"Subsidies Should Be Provided to Daycare Centers Hiring Substitute Teachers One Day Before the Regulation on Parental Leave Substitute Teachers"

Kwonikwi "Excluded from Government Support for Providing Employee Welfare Benefits"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok]

#A Childcare Center hired Mr. C as a substitute teacher for teacher B, who took parental leave starting May 1, 2019. Mr. C worked for one and a half years until November 5 of last year. The Labor Office did not provide substitute workforce support funds to A Childcare Center because Mr. C's hiring date was 'March 1, 2019.' This was based on the reason that he was hired before 'March 2,' which is 60 days prior to the parental leave start date of May 1. A Childcare Center filed an administrative appeal, stating that although Mr. C actually started working on Monday, March 4, the employment contract was signed with the date of March 1.

An administrative appeal ruling stated that support funds must be provided even if a substitute teacher for a childcare center's parental leave teacher is hired one day before the hiring criteria date for support fund eligibility. On the 3rd, the Central Administrative Appeals Committee of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced that the Labor Office's decision to withhold support funds, citing violation of the hiring period regulation despite clear evidence that the substitute was hired for parental leave, was unjust.

According to the Enforcement Decree of the Employment Insurance Act, support funds are only provided if the substitute hired after '60 days prior to the parental leave start date' works for more than 30 days. This is to prevent workplaces from fraudulently receiving support funds by disguising new hires as substitutes for parental leave. The Appeals Committee confirmed that Mr. C was clearly hired as a substitute for the parental leave teacher and that March 1, 2019, was a public holiday, with March 2-3 being the weekend, so the actual work start date was March 4.

Generally, childcare teachers are hired in March when the new semester begins, and employment contracts are signed on March 2, the day after the public holiday of March 1 (Independence Movement Day). Because of this, if the contract ends at the end of February the following year, there have been cases where employees miss out on severance pay by just one day difference. The Appeals Committee judged that A Childcare Center signed the employment contract with Mr. C as of March 1, considering these circumstances. Although A Childcare Center violated the support fund eligibility regulations, the committee ruled that support funds should be provided if it is clear that Mr. C was hired as a substitute for the parental leave teacher, and thus canceled the Labor Office's decision.

Min Seongsim, Director of the Administrative Appeals Bureau at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, said, "There should be no unfair cases where childcare centers that accommodate hiring dates for the welfare and benefit of workers fail to receive government support."

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