Workers at workplaces with fewer than 5 employees in protection blind spots... "Experience of unfair dismissal"

Blind Spot in the Labor Standards Act
Serious Accident Punishment Act Also Not Applied

"As soon as I arrived at work, they blocked me from the company intranet and told me to go home. When I raised the issue of unfair dismissal, they mocked me, saying since it's a business with fewer than 5 employees, I could report it if I wanted to."

On the 18th, Workplace Bullying 119 revealed that an analysis of 216 verified email reports received from workers at businesses with fewer than 5 employees over 3 years and 6 months from January 2020 to this month showed that cases related to survival rights such as dismissal and wages accounted for 147 cases (68%, with overlaps), the highest number.

Besides dismissal and wage issues, there were ▲100 cases (46.2%) of infringement of personal rights represented by workplace harassment ▲44 cases (20.3%) of violations of current laws such as absence of labor contracts and non-enrollment in the four major insurances ▲14 cases (6.4%) of infringement of rest rights such as working hours and holidays.

Currently, provisions in the Labor Standards Act regarding restrictions on dismissal, applications for relief from unfair dismissal, and payment of overtime, holiday, and night allowances apply only to businesses with 5 or more employees.

Workplace Bullying 119 pointed out, "Since the Labor Standards Act does not apply to businesses with fewer than 5 employees, workers can be dismissed at any time, cannot receive written reasons for dismissal, and cannot apply for relief even if unfairly dismissed. Workers at businesses with fewer than 5 employees are placed beyond the blind spot of the Labor Standards Act and into a zone of lawlessness simply because they work at small-scale enterprises."

They also stated, based on survey results, that workers at businesses with fewer than 5 employees experience relatively more dismissals. In a survey conducted from March 3 to 10 targeting 1,000 office workers, 21.1% of workers at businesses with fewer than 5 employees answered that they had experienced involuntary unemployment. The response rate for workers at businesses with 300 or more employees was 7.2% for the same question.

In addition to dismissal and wages, workers at businesses with fewer than 5 employees are not protected under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

According to quarterly industrial accident statistics from the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency as of September 2020, 22,694 workers, accounting for 33.3% of all accident victims, were employed at businesses with fewer than 5 employees. In particular, 35% (231 people) of fatalities were workers at businesses with fewer than 5 employees. Although the greatest number of workers injured and killed by industrial accidents are at businesses with fewer than 5 employees, there is no legal system to guarantee safety.

Shin Hana, a lawyer at Workplace Bullying 119, emphasized, "The Labor Standards Act is the minimum measure to protect workers who are in a worse position compared to employers. There are opinions opposing it based on the economic burden on self-employed people, but their biggest difficulties are key money and rent, and the responsibility to solve these problems lies with the government. Improving the treatment of workers in the blind spots of the Labor Standards Act is currently a more important task."

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