Ministry of Employment to Focus on Compliance with 'Employment Contracts, Minimum Wage, and Wage Arrears'

One-Week Inspection of the '4 Fundamental Labor Orders' Starting from the 20th
Minister Lee Jeong-sik: "A Culture of Compliance with Labor Orders Must Spread"

A part-time worker wearing a character costume is soliciting customers on Myeongdong Street in Seoul. A portable fan is hanging around the worker's neck. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

The government will conduct a one-week on-site preventive inspection to focus on whether the four basic labor orders are being observed in the field.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 19th that it plans to intensively operate the "2nd On-site Preventive Inspection Day" for one week starting from the 20th to ensure compliance with the "four basic labor orders" in small-scale and micro enterprises.

The four basic labor orders are the conclusion of written labor contracts, issuance of wage statements, compliance with the minimum wage, and prevention of wage arrears.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor operates the On-site Preventive Inspection Day on the fourth week of the last month of each quarter for small-scale and micro enterprises, where labor management is particularly vulnerable, to protect the most fundamental labor rights of workers.

The 2nd On-site Preventive Inspection Day to be conducted this time will be carried out through close cooperation with local labor-management organizations to actively encourage voluntary participation of labor and management.

Focusing on local labor-management-civil-government councils, joint campaigns or agreement ceremonies for compliance with the four basic labor orders will strengthen the roles of labor and management, and voluntary participation of business owners will be encouraged together with associations and organizations with many small-scale business owners.

As social distancing measures due to COVID-19 have been lifted, on-site guidance and inspections will be conducted directly.

In areas densely populated with small business owners, street campaigns, on-site consultation booths, and distribution of informational leaflets will be conducted to spread the atmosphere on-site.

Guidance and inspections will be actively conducted focusing on restaurants, convenience stores, coffee shops, and small-scale manufacturing industries, which have many small-scale businesses.

The "1st On-site Preventive Inspection Day" conducted at the end of March was held under the COVID-19 situation, making on-site activities difficult. However, with organizations such as the Korea Federation of SMEs, Korea Foodservice Industry Association, and Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise Associations, guidance and inspections were conducted for over 2,600 small-scale and micro enterprises, creating an atmosphere of compliance with basic labor orders.

Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, said, "The four basic labor orders must be strictly observed in the labor field to guarantee the most fundamental labor rights of workers," and added, "As the roles of labor, management, civil, and government at the local level are more important than ever, please actively cooperate so that the atmosphere of compliance with basic labor orders can spread."

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