Foreign housemaids in Korea fall through legal net

By Ko Dong-hwan

Most foreign housemaids in Korea haven't been able to benefit from the legal net of workers' insurances as they often don't satisfy the conditions required to apply for coverage.

According to forums on migrant workers' human rights in Korea and surveys over the past few years, many cases haven't benefited from the four basic workers' insurances provided by the government because their working hours at each household often didn't meet the legally stated minimum required. What adds to the difficulty of national authorities improving their working environment is that immigration offices have been neglecting to keeping records of how many of foreign housemaids have an expired visa.

Oh Eun-jin, from the Korean Women's Development Institute, said at a 2017 Seoul forum about protecting migrants' human rights and local governments' responsibilities that most of the housemaids from overseas landed their jobs through employment agencies. Some of the agencies received from their recruits part of their income for tax reporting, while other agencies didn't. If the workers didn't pay taxes, they weren't entitled to workers' insurances coverage.

Even if the housemaids paid tax to their employment agencies, many were exempted from receiving the four basic insurance covers because they didn't satisfy conditions. According to Oh, many of the foreign housemaids worked for several households and received hourly wages. For each household, they mostly worked fewer than 15 hours a week, which made them a “short-term employee.” Under current laws, short-term employees and daily workers do not qualify for the insurance cover.

“For illegal aliens working as housemaids, they often cannot leave the houses and suffer from extreme human rights violations,” Oh said.

The four basic workers' insurances refer to the national pension, health insurance, employment insurance and severance insurance. Those working fewer than 60 hours a month at the same workplace are not covered.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea's 2015 survey of housemaids' human rights said housekeepers from overseas numbered at least 30,000 to 80,000 nationwide. The survey said it was difficult to determine those who were illegal.

The 2017 Seoul forum said 70 percent of foreign housemaids in Korea were from the Korean-Chinese ethnic group and the rest included Chinese and those from Southeast Asian countries.

With over 2 million migrant workers nationwide, Korea has been developing a tax system to serve workers better. For example, the National Tax Service obliges foreign workers to submit their year-end tax reports so they can benefit an annual tax return. The authority provides them with guidebooks and automated tax calculation programs in English and call booths dedicated to foreigners. Migrants benefiting from tax returns jumped from 480,000 in 2013 to 544,000 in 2015.