Bank that did not provide 300,000 KRW for transportation and meal expenses only to non-regular workers... Ministry of Employment and Labor says "Fair treatment is required"

Ministry of Employment's Planned Supervision Results of Financial Institutions

Unlike regular employees, financial institutions that did not provide lunch allowances and transportation subsidies or paid lower bonuses to non-regular workers were caught through a planned inspection by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, is delivering opening remarks at a meeting to protect non-regular workers in the financial industry held at the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 24th. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

On the 24th, Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, held a 'Financial Industry Meeting to Eliminate Discrimination Against Non-Regular Workers' at the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office and announced the results of a planned inspection on discrimination against non-regular workers conducted from February to October targeting 14 financial institutions including banks, securities, and insurance companies.

The inspection revealed a total of 62 legal violations across 12 institutions, including discriminatory treatment of fixed-term, part-time, and dispatched workers (7 cases, 2.16 billion KRW), illegal dispatch (1 case, 21 people), and non-payment of monetary benefits such as unused annual leave allowances (12 cases, 400 million KRW).

Examples of discriminatory treatment included part-time workers performing tasks such as managing guarantee documents at bank branches who were not provided lunch allowances (200,000 KRW per month) or transportation subsidies (100,000 KRW per month), unlike regular employees. Additionally, one bank paid directly employed drivers a special bonus equivalent to 100% of their ordinary wages, while dispatched drivers received only a fixed special bonus of 400,000 KRW, thereby setting different bonus payment standards between regular and fixed-term workers and underpaying bonuses to fixed-term workers.

Furthermore, a bank that did not pay the 2023 minimum wage increase to part-time workers and a securities company that granted a shorter spouse maternity leave period than legally mandated were also caught.

Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, is delivering opening remarks at a meeting to protect non-regular workers in the financial industry held on the 24th at the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

Minister Lee Jeong-sik of the Ministry of Employment and Labor stated, "Protecting vulnerable workers in the labor market and establishing the rule of law are fundamental to labor reform. We ask for efforts to create a fair labor market and workplaces free from discrimination." He added, "The government will strengthen labor inspections and prepare guidelines containing basic principles and examples of fair treatment so that workplaces can voluntarily improve, striving to create workplaces without discrimination."

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