[Leaflet] <Guide to Finding your rights as a day laborer at an employment agency>(2024) - English

Do you go to a job placement agency to get a job?

•  It is the constitutional responsibility of the state to ensure that its citizens have jobs. While there are “Employment Welfare Plus Centers” and employment-related events are held in every region, there are people in our society who are not provided with employment services because their nationality, immigration status, age, credit, disability, etc. make them unfit for employment.
• There are places where people who have difficulty finding work through formal channels go. For them, it's almost the only way to make ends meet. Those places are often called ‘OO Manpower(OO 인력)’. However, illegal and abusive recruitment fees and illegal dispatch of workers are an everyday occurrence in the job placement agencies, pushing the workers further into desperate situations.
•  The Employment Security Act was enacted in 1961, when the Korean government was exerting all its power to develop the Korean economy, with the goal to guarantee all workers the right to work. Over the years, this Act has evolved to foster an anti-human rights labor market where jobs are bought and sold. The issue of jobseeker/worker rights has taken a back seat at every turn.
• This leaflet is a guide to finding out the rights of day laborers in Eumseong whose number is estimated at 10,000(2024), especially for those who visit employment agencies for a job.

We hope that this leaflet can prevent the violation of the workers’ rights.
The following is the translated version of notification of domestic paid recruitment fees.

Notification of domestic paid recruitment fees, etc.

Effective July 1, 2027.   Ministry of Employment and labor notice No. 2017-22, April 3, 2017 amended in part by the Ministry of Employment, Labor and Welfare (Employment Service Policy Division) Tel. 044-202-7336

Ⅰ. Domestic Paid Job Placement Fee, etc.   An employment agency may charge a referral fee to an employer or job seeker. The fee can be collected pursuant to the following criteria. However, the fee received from a job seeker must be based on a written contract and the contract should be written before the job seeker starts to work.   가. Referral fee for job offerers 1) In case of the employment for shorter than three months: No more than 30/100ths of the wages promised to be paid during the employment (No more than 10/100ths for construction work) 2) In case of the employment for longer than three months: No more than 30/100ths of the wages promised to be paid for the three months  (No more than 10/100ths for construction work) 3)    If the job seeker is a caregiver, dispatcher, or construction worker, within the limits of the above referral fee, the referral fee may be collected agreed upon ‘Construction Worker and Caregiving/Dispatcher Referral Fee Proxy Receipt Agreement’ written between the job seeker and the recruiter. The referral fee can be forwarded to the recruiter by the job seeker on behalf of the employer.   나. Referral fees for job seekers 1)    In case of employment for shorter than three months: No more than 1/100th of the wages of the employee were supposed to receive during the employment (From July 1st 2017 to June 30th 2019, no more than 3/100th). 2)    In case of employment for longer than three months: No more than 1/100th of the wages of the employee you would have been paid for three months. (From July 1st 2017 to June 30 2019, no more than 3/100th).   supplementary provision <2017-22, 4.3.2017> This notice is effective July 1, 2017. Reconsideration deadlines The Minister of the Minister of Employment and Labor should publish this notice every third year after July 1, 2017 (as of the third anniversary of June 30). The feasibility of the paragraph shall be reviewed and measures, such as improvements, should be taken.

 

Let’s Read Article 19, Paragraph 3 of the Employment Security Act and the “Notification of Domestic Paid Job Placement Fees” together!

First, we should take a look at the only current law that regulates employment agencies, the Employment Security Act. In particular, we should pay attention to Article 19, Paragraph 3, which stipulates that employment agencies must not accept money other than the fee determined and announced by the Minister of Employment and Labor.

A person who runs an employment agency must not receive any money other than the fee determined and announced by the Minister of Employment and Labor. (Omitted)
[Article 19, Paragraph 3 of the Employment Security Act]  

The content in the box above is a notice from the Minister of Employment and Labor. It’s to read it, as it defines how the agencies can collect referral fees. Now let’s take a look at them one by one.

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1. Fees for referrals to job seekers must be based on a written contract.

•  When you sign a contract for real estate, you sign a contract, correct? Introducing a job and collecting a fee is also a contract, so you sign a contract for the introduction fee agreement before the contract becomes valid. This is to prevent excessive fees or disputes over fees. The current Employment Security Act requires employment agencies to keep such agreements for two years, but there is a big problem with the exception of day laborers.
•  However, the notification stipulates that the referral fee must be based on a written contract signed with the job seeker in advance, so even day laborers must have a referral fee agreement contract!

 

2. The agencies can collect a referral fee for job seekers for only 1% of their wages for up to three months.

• For example, if you are paid 100,000 won per day, up to 1,000 won can be collected as a referral fee. If the employment contract is for shorter than 3 months, only 1% of the wages you agreed to receive during the employment period can be collected. If it is for longer than 3 months, only up to 1% of the wages for the 3-month. (Penalty for the violation is up to 10 million KRW).
• In Eumseong, the customs,that the agencies write no referral fee agreements but still collect 10 to 20 percent of wages and charge the referral fees for more than three months, have been in place for more than three months.

 

 3. Even if a worker is a so-called “day laborer,” if they have worked for the same company, they have the rights of a “regular worker”.

• Even if a worker is a so-called day laborer, in reality, they are considered a “regular worker” if they have worked for the same company. (Supreme Court, July 11th, 1995, Decision 93다26168) It is a violation of labor law to deny weekly vacation, annual leave, or severance pay to a worker who commutes to and from work just like any other workers.
• Construction workers who work on multiple sites for the same company are also entitled to severance pay if they work for more than one year in total. The Labor Law considers work to be continuous even if the company is closed due to weather or company conditions. In order to be qualified for severance pay, it is not necessary to meet an average of 25 days per month. If you have worked for a minimum of 4, 5 and 15 days in a month, it is considered continuous work. (Supreme Court, July 11, 1995, Decision 93다26168).

 

4. It is banned to dispatch a worker to  a manufacturing factory! If you are directly under the direction and supervision of the factory manager at work, you must be employed directly by the manufacturing factory!

•  There is a risk that the employer may avoid the responsibility for workers’ rights by dispatching workers. For this reason the Dispatch Act limits work codes where the agency can dispatch workers and prohibits dispatch for other codes. For example, ‘direct production process work’ in the manufacturing industry is prohibited. If it is found that a worker is dispatched and stationed for production line or packaging work, the employer is obligated to hire the worker directly, and the dispatching employer is subject to criminal penalties. (Article 6(2) of the Dispatching Act).

 

※ Cases of undercover contracting and illegally dispatching in Eumseong

The so-called ‘fake contracting’ tactic, in which an employment agency signs a contract with a manufacturer and sends workers to work under the manufacturer’s direction, also constitutes illegal labor. In Eumseong, Shinsegae Food Eumseong factory in 2017 and Konkuk Milk and Konkuk Ham outsourcing company have been found to have illegally dispatched workers. At that time, the workers did not have a written contract and were excluded from basic labor rights such as weekly rest, annual leave, severance pay and four major insurances. These cases became a national issue. The back wages of Shinsegae Food’s day laborers amounted to 180 million won. Following a remedial order from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the back wages were paid, and the workers were directly hired by an in-house subcontractor.

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It’s not because job seekers are incompetent that they can’t find a job.

It’s not because workers are ignorant that they pay more than 10% commissions to employment agencies and work without weekly vacation pay and severance pay.

 It’s because the national and local governments have failed to take responsibility for the employment problems of local people.

It’s because the National Assembly has neglected the Employment Security Act.

It’s because the state’s responsibility to connect people to jobs has become someone’s way of making money due to the indifference of the government and politicians.

In order for everyone to have a stable job and work with dignity, workers themselves must demand and act.

 

To build a community where all workers work with dignity and humanity, we demand the followings:

1. The government and the National Assembly should amend the Employment Security Act to guarantee the right to work for all job seekers without ‘intermediated exploitation'!
2. Eumseong-gun should operate job centers in every town and village and provide free job placement services at all times!
3. The Ministry of Employment and Labor should thoroughly supervise illegal dispatching practices that leave day laborers in the blind spot of their rights!

 

To Whom can I contact for issues faced by day laborers?

-   Have a suggestion for an employment agency system or policy?

Ministry of Employment and Labor Employment Service Policy Division
044-202-7327 General
044-202-7393 Employment Security Act
044-202-7336 Affairs related to the Employment Security Act (job placement, job information provision business, etc.)

 - How do I report an employment agency for violating the Employment Security Act

Eumseong-gun Office of Jobs and Economy
043-871-3610 Job and Economy Division
043-871-3653 Registration and management of employment agency business

 -  How do I report wage arrears, middleman exploitation, or illegal dispatch?

Ministry of Employment and Labor Chungju Branch (Northern Chungcheongbuk-do) 043-840-4000
Ministry of Employment and Labor Cheongju Branch Office (Southern Chungbuk) 043-299-1114

 - For free counseling and legal support

Eumseong Labor Human Rights Center
Tel. 043-882-5455
2F, 184-1, Muguk-ro, Geumwang-eup, Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do
esnoh5455@hanmail.net

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For independent activities to protect workers' human rights, the Eumseong Labor Rights Center operates based on voluntary donations from citizens.

 Donation Account:  농협 351-0802-5012-33 음성노동인권센터