ed Illegal hiring

Last week, there were two important incidents with respect to the widespread labor practice in the country of using illegally dispatched workers on production lines and at retail outlets.

The Supreme Court upheld an appeals court ruling that imposed a fine of 7 million won on David Nick Riley, former chief executive of GM Korea, on charges of violating a law concerning the protection of dispatched workers. The top court also fined four chief executives of the automaker’s subcontracting firms 3 to 4 million won.

The ruling is highly significant because it was the first time the Supreme Court confirmed criminal penalties in connection with "illegal dispatch work."

The point of the ruling was whether contracts between GM Korea and its partner companies were legitimate subcontracts or illegal labor dispatch. The court rejected Riley’s argument that they were legitimate subcontracts and clearly stated that the workers were dispatched illegally, given that GM Korea directly commanded the subcontracting workers and was in charge of managing their labor affairs. In fact, the automobile company usually made it a rule that the dispatched workers mingle with regular employees at workplaces.

Separately, the Ministry of Employment and Labor found that E-mart, the nation’s largest discount chain, illegally employed 1,978 workers dispatched from referral agencies to avoid hiring them directly. In this case too, E-mart was found to directly command the dispatched workers in displaying products and greeting customers.

Both cases awaken us to the urgent need to tackle the deep-seated problem of non-regular workers, given that many local manufacturers and retailers have for long relied on this illegal dispatch practice as a means of reducing labor costs and laying off workers more easily in times of business slowdown.

Now the time has come for our businesses to be more proactive in terminating this illegal dispatch work and improving conditions for non-regular workers, particularly in order to relieve ever-worsening polarization. The severity of the non-regular workers problem cannot be made light of, considering that non-regular workers account for nearly 33 percent of wage earners.

It goes without saying that the government must harshly penalize business owners who still use illegally dispatched workers. But too idealistic an approach toward this long-standing issue may paradoxically translate into reduced employment because businesses will instinctively minimize hiring in the face of greater burdens.

That is why we feel it necessary for our society to find rational solutions. Probably President Park Geun-hye would be lauded only if she could present a clue to this problem, as she said on her Feb. 25 inauguration day.