Ministry of Employment Arrests Construction Employer for Habitual Wage Arrears

Interior Construction Contractor with Unpaid Wages for 35 Workers

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 12th that it arrested and detained a business owner who habitually withheld wages and fled during the intensive guidance period for clearing unpaid wages, which took place from the 26th of last month to the 13th.

[Photo by Ministry of Employment and Labor]

The Gyeonggi Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor detained Mr. G (male, 50 years old), an interior construction contractor who withheld 37 million won in wages from 35 daily construction workers, on charges of violating the Labor Standards Act the day before.

Mr. G conducted interior construction work across the Gyeonggi-do area, hiring daily construction workers for 1 to 3 days through manpower introduction agencies at each construction site, and proceeded with the projects, receiving most of the construction payments per site. However, he habitually withheld wages by not paying the daily workers and using a method of reallocating wages between construction sites.

There have been 343 reported cases against Mr. G from 2016 to this year. He has a history of being fined 17 times for failing to settle wages in most of these cases. Currently, two trials related to wage withholding are ongoing.

Kang Un-kyung, head of the Gyeonggi Branch, stated, "We will relentlessly pursue and strictly hold accountable business owners who maliciously and habitually withhold wages," adding, "We will change the mistaken perception that paying fines is enough."

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