Review of Easing Workplace Change Rules After "Forklift Harassment" Incident... SMEs Warn of Potential Abuse

Ministry of Employment and Labor Announces Comprehensive Review of Employment Permit System
Mentions Easing Restrictions on Number and Region of Workplace Changes
68.0% of SMEs Report "Requests for Contract Termination"
"Need to Consider Strengthening Mediation Functions Rather Than Easing Regulations"

As the government announced a comprehensive review of the Employment Permit System in response to the recent controversy over the "forklift harassment" incident involving a foreign worker, concerns are mounting among small and medium-sized businesses. The government plans to make it easier for foreign workers to change workplaces. However, since the current system already allows workplace changes in cases of unfair treatment by employers, such as verbal abuse, many worry that further easing of regulations could undermine the very purpose of the system.

According to industry sources on August 8, the Ministry of Employment and Labor is pursuing measures to make workplace changes more flexible for foreign workers who enter Korea under the Employment Permit System (E-9 visa). Under current law, foreign workers admitted through the Employment Permit System are allowed to change workplaces up to three times during their three-year employment contract. The government now plans to relax this restriction. This move comes in response to growing public outrage after a video surfaced on July 23 showing a Sri Lankan worker being tied to cargo and transported by forklift at a brick factory in Naju, South Jeolla Province.

An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor explained, "We are considering ways to make it easier for foreign workers to change workplaces if they experience unfair treatment," adding, "We are also broadly reviewing options such as easing the regional restriction that currently allows workplace changes only within the same area, and relaxing the maximum number of allowed workplace changes."

While the small and medium-sized business community agrees on the importance of protecting the human rights of foreign workers, there is growing concern that the system could be increasingly abused. Many employers are already struggling because some foreign workers indiscriminately request workplace changes, causing operational difficulties. If regulations are eased further, the original purpose of the system?helping small and medium-sized businesses address labor shortages?could be compromised. According to a 2023 survey by the Korea Federation of SMEs, 68% of companies using the Employment Permit System reported receiving requests from foreign workers to terminate their contracts in order to change workplaces, and about 58% of these requests occurred within six months of the worker's arrival in Korea.

An industry official said, "Even now, there are frequent cases where foreign workers use tactics such as work slowdowns or unauthorized absences to pressure employers, aiming to move to workplaces with better conditions, such as additional overtime pay. If workplace change requirements are further relaxed, won't this only worsen the concentration of labor in certain businesses?"

In particular, since the current system already allows unlimited workplace changes in cases of employer violations of working conditions, wage arrears, or unfair treatment such as verbal or physical abuse, experts argue that sufficient consideration of potential system abuse is needed. Noh Minseon, a research fellow at the Korea Small Business Institute, advised, "There is no doubt that the human rights of foreign workers are extremely important, but workplace changes must be handled with great care, taking into account the difficulties faced by small businesses. Rather than simply relaxing the requirements for workplace changes, strengthening mediation functions to resolve disputes between foreign workers and employers could also be a viable alternative."

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