Assemblyman Kim Hoe-jae, "Even When Civil Servants Caught COVID, They Worked... Cutting Real Wages for Tax Cuts for the Rich"

Ministry of SMEs and Startups: 47 of 70 COVID-19 Positive Cases Worked During Home Treatment

Average 292 Employees Overtime Monthly... Nearly 9,000 Hours of Unpaid Labor

Government to Cut Civil Servants' Real Wages by Over 3.5% Next Year

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seonsik] It has been revealed that 67% of confirmed COVID-19 cases among employees of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), the dedicated ministry supporting small business owners and self-employed individuals affected by COVID-19, continued to work while undergoing home treatment.

There are criticisms that MSS employees, who are in charge of supporting small business owners and self-employed individuals affected by COVID-19, were not even granted the right to rest after being confirmed with COVID-19 themselves.

However, the Yoon Seok-yeol administration announced that it would effectively cut their salaries.

Criticism is expected to intensify that only civil servants are being forced to sacrifice for tax cuts benefiting the wealthy.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to Kim Hoe-jae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Yeosu City, Jeollanam-do), 70 MSS public officials were confirmed with COVID-19 from April to June this year.

Among them, 47 people, accounting for 67.1%, were analyzed to have worked by connecting to the government’s remote work system (GVPN) while quarantined and receiving treatment at home on sick leave.

In particular, the second supplementary budget bill worth 62 trillion won, focused on compensating losses for small business owners and self-employed individuals affected by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, was passed in the second quarter of this year, a period when the workload of MSS, the responsible ministry, also surged.

Rep. Kim pointed out, "MSS employees, despite being confirmed with COVID-19 due to the surge in support work for small business owners and self-employed individuals, did not get proper rest and worked remotely."

In fact, from April to June, the average number of MSS employees working overtime was 292 per month, with a total overtime of 31,177 hours.

Moreover, it was found that they performed about 8,844 hours of unpaid overtime work.

Civil servants are not subject to the Labor Standards Act, so there is no limit on overtime hours, and no allowance is paid for overtime exceeding 57 hours per month.

However, while the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is pushing for tax cuts on corporate tax and comprehensive real estate tax, it announced that next year’s civil servant wages will be frozen for grade 4 and above, and increased by only 1.7% for grade 5 and below to secure funding.

Considering the 5.2% inflation rate forecasted by the Bank of Korea this year, this effectively means a wage cut of more than 3.5%.

There is criticism that it is unfair to reduce the salaries of civil servants who worked even when infected with COVID-19, while granting tax reductions to the wealthy who gained huge profits from the low-interest rate policy aimed at overcoming the COVID crisis.

Rep. Kim Hoe-jae said, “It is natural for public officials to perform more public duties during a national crisis,” but added, “However, sacrifices require compensation, yet the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is forcing patriotic pay cuts only on public officials who could not rest despite being infected with COVID-19 and supported small business owners and self-employed individuals for the sake of tax cuts benefiting the wealthy.”

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seonsik hss79@asiae.co.kr

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