As the government moved to introduce a "presumption of employee status" to protect the rights and interests of dependent contractors and freelancers, the small-business community pushed back. The system would presume that a person who provides labor for another person's business in a dispute is an employee, and require the employer to prove that the person is not an employee.
The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME) issued a statement on the 21st saying, "Despite its stated purpose, the 'basic law for working people' currently being discussed by the government and political circles contains a toxic clause of 'presumption of employee status' that could brand small-business owners—the capillaries of the Korean economy—as lawbreakers and seriously infringe on their management rights."
It added, "Regardless of the substance of the contract, it first treats people as employees and places the burden of proof to rebut this on small and micro businesses," and noted, "Small-business owners with no ability to respond legally will waste enormous expense and time in the complex process of proving employee status, which will ultimately lead to a flood of lawsuits and managerial paralysis."
It continued, "Small-business sectors have highly diverse and flexible employment forms, such as ultra-short-term part-time work, performance-based pay contracts, and family-run operations, so judging them by the standards of ordinary wage earners is nothing more than desk-bound administration that ignores on-the-ground realities," and explained, "In the end, it will dampen small-business owners' willingness to hire and force 'solo management,' resulting in the paradoxical outcome of fewer jobs."
It also said, "At a time when improving the employment environment through measures such as overhauling the long-outdated weekly holiday allowance and making the minimum wage more flexible would still be insufficient to help small businesses overcome the crisis, pushing ahead with the introduction of 'presumption of employee status,' which instead increases hiring burdens and drives small-business owners to the brink, is tantamount to flatly denying their right to survive."
Lastly, it expressed concern, saying, "This is an issue that should be preceded by sufficient deliberation among stakeholders based on social dialogue, and the government should not ram it through in a blitz as if it were a military operation by even setting a deadline."