It has been half a year since the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) released measures to reduce industrial accidents and eradicate unpaid wages, but only three of the 16 related bills have passed.
President Lee Jae-myung on Jan. 20 at a Cabinet meeting told Minister Kim Young-hoon, "Hasn't the legislation passed? If the opposition objects, does that mean you can't do it? Isn't that a lack of ability? Go plead more earnestly with the National Assembly," urging faster handling of the bills.
According to the National Assembly's bill information system on Feb. 8, the legislative items related to the "occupational safety (industrial accident) comprehensive measures" and the measures to eradicate unpaid wages that the ministry released in September last year number 12 and 4, respectively.
Of the 12 industrial accident countermeasure bills, only two have passed the National Assembly: amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Act on the Promotion of Logistics of Living Goods. The passed bills include provisions on disclosing accident investigation reports, introducing a safety and health disclosure system, mandating the appointment of honorary inspectors, penalties for employers who do not conduct risk assessments, and requiring key provisions of the standard contract for parcel delivery subcontracting to be reflected.
However, an amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act that the government has put forward as the core of the industrial accident measures—imposing a penalty surcharge of up to 5% of operating profit on corporations where three or more fatal industrial accidents occur in a year—remains pending in the National Assembly. The ruling and opposition parties are divided on this. The ruling party sees it as necessary to reduce industrial accidents, while the opposition objects, citing concerns about dampening corporate activity.
An amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act that would establish a "right to stop work" for workers and honorary inspectors is also facing a wide gap between the parties. Due to the ruling-opposition conflict, an amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act containing this provision was put on hold at the bill review subcommittee of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee on Feb. 5.
A ministry official said, "There has been a lot of discussion at the bill subcommittee regarding the industrial accident countermeasure bills, but differences have not been narrowed," and added, "The gap over the penalty surcharge has been largely resolved, but there was a view that deliberation was needed on the right to stop work, so a vote was not taken."
Meanwhile, of the four bills for the measures to eradicate unpaid wages, one bill—the amendment to the Wage Claim Guarantee Act—passed the National Assembly. The amendment to the Wage Claim Guarantee Act expands the scope of substitute payments for insolvent business sites from "the final three months of wages" to "the final six months of wages" to protect workers with unpaid wages.
An amendment to the Labor Standards Act that would raise the statutory penalty for unpaid wage crimes from "imprisonment for up to 3 years or a fine of up to 30 million won" to "imprisonment for up to 5 years or a fine of up to 50 million won," and mandate separate payment of wage expense within subcontracting, recently passed the full meeting of the Climate and Labor Committee. These bills are expected to be put to a vote at a plenary session of the National Assembly after going through The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
However, an amendment to the Labor Standards Act that would expand the scope of employers subject to public disclosure of unpaid wage lists did not even come up for discussion at the bill subcommittee within the standing committee. An amendment to the Act on the Guarantee of Employees' Retirement Benefits to gradually expand the introduction of retirement pensions, and an amendment to the Construction Industry Framework Act to link an electronic payment system, are also pending.
The ministry said it plans to pass as many bills as possible within this month by persuading the National Assembly. A ministry official said, "Even bills that have not yet passed the standing committee can be placed on the floor of the National Assembly if they pass the standing committee before the Legislation and Judiciary Committee is convened," adding, "Our goal is to pass them as much as possible in February."