Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said regarding the survey on non-regular workers in the public institutional sector, "We should include in those surveyed not only all ministries but also public institutions under local governments," adding, "We will also look into whether there are cases of signing 11-month contracts instead of 1 year (12 months) to avoid paying severance."
The Minister said at a post-briefing after a work report from affiliated agencies on the 12th, "We plan to conduct a survey on the status of non-regular workers in the public sector across all ministries within the first quarter and prepare measures to improve treatment," and stated accordingly. The labor ministry is conducting a related full-count survey after President Lee Jae-myung pointed out last month the treatment and employment instability of non-regular workers in the public institutional sector.
The "11-month split contracts" issue that the Minister mentioned again is something President Lee also took issue with. If a worker is hired for less than one year, there is no obligation to pay severance, leading to criticism that some in the public institutional sector are signing 11-month contracts with fixed-term workers.
The Minister said, "At a minimum, even if the public institutional sector cannot be a model employer, it should not be called a bad one," adding, "We will focus the survey on whether there are places that might be abusing existing laws and systems, and whether there are places applying only the minimum standards, such as paying only the minimum wage."
He also said he would uphold the intent of the "fair allowance" policy introduced when President Lee served as Gyeonggi governor. The fair allowance pays a compensatory allowance to non-regular fixed-term workers in proportion to employment instability such as length of service. Gyeonggi Province makes a one-time payment of 5%–10% of base salary as the fair allowance at the end of a contract.
On this, the Minister said, "When there are cases such as parental leave or long-term medical leave, we need fixed-term employees to cover that work," adding, "The fair allowance is based on the principle of 'if that is the case, employment is unstable, so is it right to pay even less; shouldn't we add a bit more,' and we want to align with that intent."
Meanwhile, that day the Minister received work reports from 12 affiliated agencies, including the Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Korea).