Supreme Court: "POSCO In-house Subcontracted Workers Are Also POSCO Employees"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Workers from subcontractors who worked at POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks have won a final victory after 11 years in a lawsuit seeking recognition of their status as POSCO employees.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justices Ahn Cheol-sang and Lee Heung-gu) on the 28th upheld the lower court ruling in a lawsuit filed by a total of 59 subcontractor employees against POSCO to confirm their employee status, dismissing the cases of four plaintiffs who had passed retirement age and ruling in favor of the remaining plaintiffs.

The court explained, "Regarding the plaintiffs who reached retirement age during the lawsuit, the interest to dispute through litigation has disappeared, so the lower court ruling was overturned ex officio and the lawsuits were dismissed."

It added, "For the plaintiffs who have not reached retirement age, the lower court ruling that recognized the existence of a dispatched worker relationship between the plaintiffs and the defendant and granted the plaintiffs' claims was confirmed."

A Supreme Court official stated, "While there has been precedent that lawsuits are dismissed once retirement age is reached between direct employment parties, this is the first time that such precedent has been applied equally to dispatched labor relationships."

Fifteen workers who worked at POSCO Gwangyang Steelworks as subcontractor employees filed a lawsuit in 2011, and 44 more filed in 2016, seeking recognition as POSCO employees. Those dispatched to Gwangyang Steelworks were responsible for tasks such as rolling semi-finished products into hot-rolled coils, cold-rolled coils, and plated products, as well as transporting and managing them.

The first trial accepted the company's argument that subcontractor employees could not be considered to have worked under POSCO's direction and command, ruling against the plaintiffs. However, the second trial recognized that POSCO indirectly gave instructions regarding work to subcontractor employees and ruled to recognize their employee status.

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