Human Rights Commission: "Advance Deduction of Food and Lodging Fees for Agricultural Migrant Workers Must Be Prohibited"

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) announced on the 26th that laws should prohibit the advance deduction of lodging and meal fees to guarantee the right to survival and housing for agricultural migrant workers.

On September 20th last year, the NHRCK recommended to the Minister of Employment and Labor to ▲ devise support measures such as the installation of public dormitories for agricultural migrant workers ▲ prohibit the advance deduction of lodging and meal fees by law ▲ establish reasonable standards for lodging and meal fees.

In response, the Minister of Employment and Labor replied, "We attempted to secure a budget to support rental fees for accommodations at workplaces employing foreigners, but it was not reflected. Instead, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and local governments are securing budgets to support the installation of dormitories for agricultural workers, and we are reviewing measures such as awarding employment permit points to local governments that improve residential environments by building public dormitories."

Furthermore, the Minister stated, "If the advance deduction of lodging and meal fees is prohibited by law only for foreign workers, there is a concern that it could undermine the consistency of law application due to differential wage deduction standards between domestic and foreign workers. We are currently discussing this by forming a special dedicated organization including labor and management groups to promote the stability of workers' lives." Based on the results of future discussions, they plan to review the revision of the 'Guidelines on Providing Lodging and Meal Information and Collecting Fees for Foreign Workers.'

The NHRCK judged that the Ministry of Employment and Labor partially accepted the recommendation. The NHRCK stated, "We recommended amending the 'Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers' to establish the principle of full wage payment and to introduce a provision prohibiting the advance deduction of lodging and meal fees. The Ministry of Employment and Labor expressed concerns about introducing the prohibition provision and stated that it would review related guideline revisions, which means they have not fully implemented the recommended measures." Additionally, the NHRCK added, "We reaffirm our previous recommendation that it is necessary to accurately investigate the actual residential environment provided to migrant workers and establish reasonable standards for lodging and meal fees to guarantee the survival and housing rights of migrant workers."

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