Up to 100 Million KRW Fine for Non-Compliance with Workplace Daycare Installation Survey... "List Also to Be Disclosed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Byeon Seon-jin] From the 11th of next month, employers who do not respond to the on-site survey verifying compliance with the obligation to establish workplace daycare centers will be fined 50 million KRW for the first violation and 100 million KRW for repeated violations.

The government held a Cabinet meeting on the 29th and approved a partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Infant Care Act, the Ministry of Health and Welfare reported. In June, workplaces subject to the obligation to establish workplace daycare centers must comply with the on-site survey, and if violated, a fine of up to 100 million KRW will be imposed, as a follow-up legislation to the amended Infant Care Act.

Under the Infant Care Act, workplaces employing 300 or more regular female workers or 500 or more regular workers are obligated to establish workplace daycare centers. However, if it is difficult to directly establish and operate a workplace daycare center, the obligation can be fulfilled by signing a consignment childcare contract with individual daycare centers used by the children of the workplace employees.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare conducts an annual on-site survey regarding the obligation to establish workplace daycare centers, and for workplaces that fail to comply, it can impose an enforcement penalty of up to 200 million KRW per year through local governments along with public disclosure of the list. Until now, only public disclosure was possible for workplaces that did not respond to the survey, but the Ministry explained that with this amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Infant Care Act, economic sanctions can now be imposed.

Baek Geum-ju, Director of Childcare Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "The workplace daycare center obligation system is a policy to support workers' childcare and create stable working conditions to realize work-family balance," adding, "With the amendment to the enforcement decree, we plan to encourage participation in the workplace daycare center compliance survey and fulfillment of the obligation."

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