‘Withholding Wages and Denying Leave’ ... A Place That Frequently Violates Labor Laws

Ministry of Employment and Labor Investigates 76 Locations of 6 Brands Including Coffee, Fast Food, and Beauty Services
Only 3 out of 10 Workers Receive Guaranteed Paid Annual Leave

[Asia Economy Culture Young Intern Reporter] Numerous labor law violations, such as wage arrears and failure to guarantee paid annual leave, were detected in franchise sectors including coffee shops. Only 3 out of 10 young workers at coffee and fast food franchises were able to receive legally guaranteed paid annual leave.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 16th the results of labor inspections conducted by the Labor Inspection Division on a total of 76 locations across six brands in coffee, fast food, and beauty sectors from July to October. As a result, wage arrears amounting to over 105 million KRW for 328 workers, including overtime, night, and holiday work allowances, were found at 49 locations.

Numerous basic labor order violations were also revealed, including minimum wage violations, failure to prepare employment contracts, and failure to provide wage statements. The most frequent violation was the failure to conclude written employment contracts at 37 locations, followed by failure to provide wage statements (34 locations), failure to prepare wage ledgers or omission of essential items (21 locations), and minimum wage violations (3 locations).

In small franchise stores, 'paid holidays' were not properly guaranteed. A mobile anonymous survey conducted among 259 workers at directly managed stores and 221 workers at franchise stores showed that only 46.7% of coffee and fast food workers and 17.9% of beauty industry workers were guaranteed at least one paid holiday per week. Paid annual leave was granted to only 32.6% of coffee and fast food workers and 15.2% of beauty industry workers.

In franchise directly managed stores, irregular workdays and working hours were frequently problematic. Among surveyed workers, 86.4% responded that their working hours and days off were changed daily or weekly due to company circumstances, with causes including frequent changes in work shifts organized by the company (55.4%) and unexpected situations such as sudden increases in workload (28.6%).

A significant number of workers experienced customer 'gapjil' (abusive behavior by customers) but no separate measures were taken. Responses indicating experiences of verbal abuse, assault, or sexual harassment by customers were 35.9% at directly managed stores and 10.4% at franchise stores, with no subsequent action taken in 31.2% of directly managed stores and 73.9% of franchise stores.

In response, the Ministry of Employment and Labor stated that detected violations will be immediately ordered to be corrected, and based on the labor inspection results, guidance for improving labor conditions will be provided. Minister Lee Jeong-sik said, "It is a serious problem that the franchise industry, where many young people work, does not even comply with basic labor laws," and added, "We will strengthen proactive planned inspections in vulnerable sectors."

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