Parliamentary Inspection and Legislation Trend

Beginning with speeches by representatives from various negotiating groups on October 7, the 20-day parliamentary inspections opened on October 14. Following the parliamentary inspection, interpellation sessions as well as deliberation on budget/legislative bills are scheduled.

[Table 1] 320th Parliamentary regular session & agenda

Labor-related bills

As of October 23, a total of 293 labor-related bills were presented to the Environment & Labor Committee of the 19th National Assembly. Of those, 10 (of 278) bills proposed by lawmakers and 2 (of 15 bills) from the government have been passed at the plenary session.

[Table 2] Pending labor-related bills during the 19th National Assembly (as of Oct. 23)

Trends and Prospects for Legislation

1. Reduction of working hours

The government shares the view with the ruling and opposition parties that holiday work should be included in “extended work”; however, they are divided over the issues such as enforcement timing, exceptions allowing extended work, adjustment of the exempted industries list, etc.

[Table 3] Major legislative issues on reduction of working hours

2. Restrictions on dismissal for managerial reasons

Both the ruling and opposition parties have proposed similar bills on this issue. Whereas the opposition parties have expressed their intention to accept the ruling party’s views regarding this issue at the Environment & Labor Committee’s Legislative Review Sub-committee on June 20, within the government and the ruling party, there are voices claiming that some adjustments to the bill need to be made.

[Table 4] Major legislative issues regarding managerial dismissal

3. Expanding the scope of “ordinary wage”

When the ruling of the Supreme Court comes out, the ruling party and the government plan to take a legal action based on consultation with labor and management. However, some labor including the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) is refusing to join the dialogue. In the meantime, opposition parties have already presented a revision bill to expand the scope of “ordinary wage”.

[Table 5] Major legislative issues surrounding “Ordinary Wage”

4. Protection of in-house subcontract workers

While the ruling party is trying to push for the bill on protection of in-house contracted workers, opposition parties are opposed to the legislation, demanding prohibition of indirect employment within partner firms in the service sector.

[Table 6] Major legislative issues regarding in-house subcontract workers and other indirect employment

5. Strengthening regulations on non-regular workers

The bill regarding the public announcement of employment types and the bill prohibiting discrimination (in terms of bonuses) against non-regular workers, were passed at the National Assembly in November 2012 and February 2013 respectively.

Following these bills, in the extraordinary session of the National Assembly, more regulations on non-regular workers, such as a strong correction order for discrimination and punitive monetary compensation of up to 10 times the amount of damages, were passed by the Environment & Labor Committee this April. As a result, regulations on non-regular workers seem to be getting stronger.

[Table 7] Major legislative issues regarding non-regular workers

6. Legislative protection for independent workers

On November 21, 2012, at the Environment & Labor Committee’s Legislative Review Sub-committee, the ruling party proposed that independent workers should be recognized as “employees” according to labor law.

Thereafter, the ruling party retreated from its earlier stance, saying that agreement between labor, management and the government needed to be reached in advance on this issue. The opposition parties also echoed the ruling party’s view regarding the legal status of independent workers. The government, however, is trying to address this issue by revising the Labor Relations Commission Act.

[Table 8] Main points of the revised bill on independent workers

7. Strengthening industrial safety regulations

The government and ruling party are planning to relax the requirements of the enforcement decrees of the Act on Registration and Evaluation, etc. of Chemical Substances and the Korean Toxic Chemicals Control Act. The government is also planning to enhance industrial safety inspections of workplaces.

On the other hand, the opposition parties are expected to work on legislation of the revised bill for the Occupational Safety & Health Act, which forbids subcontracting of harmful work in the 2nd half of 2013. The opposition parties attempted legislation of the revised bill during the 1st half of 2013 but were not successful.

[Table 9] Main points of revised bill for the Occupational Safety & Health Act

Both the ruling and opposition parties have proposed bills to increase the minimum wage, but specific measures are pending in the National Assembly due to differing opinions on setup of lower limits etc.

[Table 10] Main points of the revised bill for the Minimum Wage Act

9. Time-off system and multiple unions system

Amidst the opposition parties’ continuous demands for revision of the law, the government and ruling party are insisting on improvement rather than abolishment of the existing laws. However, close attention to the issue is still required since some within the ruling party have proposed a bill to exclude supra-enterprise-level unions from the requirement to have a unified bargaining channel.

[Table 11] Main points of the revised bill for the Trade Union &Labor Relations Adjustment Act