Constitutional Court Rules "Guidelines on Non-Payment of Salaries for Childcare Staff at Private Daycare Centers" Constitutional

Constitutional Court: "Private Daycare Centers Pursue Profit Even Without Receiving Childcare Budget... Difficult to Compare"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the Ministry of Health and Welfare's guideline not to support 'childcare staff wages' for private daycare centers, unlike national/public and social welfare corporation daycare centers, does not violate the Constitution.

There is a rational reason for supporting wages for national/public daycare centers in exchange for restricting profit-seeking, while allowing profit-seeking but not supporting wages for private daycare centers.

The Constitutional Court announced on the 4th that it unanimously dismissed a constitutional complaint claiming that the Ministry of Health and Welfare's '2020 Childcare Business Guide' infringed on the equality rights of private daycare center operators.

The Infant Care Act stipulates that the state or local governments shall subsidize all or part of the costs of childcare projects, such as childcare teachers' wages, as prescribed by Presidential Decree, and the Enforcement Decree of the same Act specifies that necessary matters regarding the method of cost support shall be determined by the Minister of Health and Welfare or the head of the relevant local government.

Petitioner A, who operates a private daycare center, filed a constitutional complaint claiming that their equality rights were violated because childcare staff wages were not supported for private daycare centers.

The issue in this case was whether the Ministry of Health and Welfare's guideline discriminates against the petitioner operating a private daycare center without reasonable grounds and infringes on the petitioner's equality rights.

The Constitutional Court found that the Ministry of Health and Welfare's guideline has its own rational reasons. The Court judged, "Since the proportion of private daycare centers remains high and the childcare budget is limited, it is difficult to immediately expand support to the same level as national/public daycare centers," and "Private and home daycare centers generally pursue profit even without receiving childcare budgets, making it difficult to simply compare the two types."

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