Starting next month, the requirements to receive more employment retention subsidies than before will be eased. Employment retention subsidies are a policy that supports labor costs for corporations that maintained employment despite declines in sales and other factors.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 28th that the Cabinet approved amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Employment Insurance Act and the Enforcement Decree of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act that center on this change. Employment retention subsidies cover 66.7% of wages paid by an employer to workers (50% for large corporations), and in special cases, more is provided. That applies when employment crises are confined to specific industries or regions. In such cases, the support amount increases to 90% (66.7% for large corporations). Starting on May 12, "when employment conditions have significantly deteriorated nationwide" will also be included among the requirements to receive this expanded support. However, the level of the support amount has not been set and will be determined later by the Employment Policy Deliberation Committee.
Also, for now the conditions to apply for employment retention subsidies differ by type, such as temporary suspension of operations or leave, but going forward they will be unified. For paid suspensions or paid leave, they will be unified as "a reduction of 20% or more in the monthly prescribed working hours per insured person," and for unpaid suspensions or unpaid leave, as "no work provided for 30 days or more and approval by the labor commission for falling short of the standard for paying suspension allowances."
The state has been paying overdue wages to workers on behalf of employers and, once a court judgment is issued, collecting reimbursement from employers, but compulsory collection will become possible even without a final court judgment. A labor ministry official said, "With compulsory collection enabled, the recovery period will be drastically shortened and the recovery rate will also rise."
Meanwhile, with this amendment to the enforcement decrees, starting on June 1, employers who have failed to pay three months of wages to a worker over the past year, or who have failed to pay wages five or more times with the total amount reaching at least 30 million won, will not be able to receive the Employment Promotion Subsidy and the Employment Stability Subsidy.