By Kim Bo-eun
Companies in the fashion, beauty, hotel and bakery businesses have been caught providing only so-called “passion pay” to interns.
The term satirically refers to interns willingly working without pay because of their “passion.” Many young people resort to such poor working conditions to earn work experience in the tough job market.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Wednesday it found 255 cases that went against labor regulations at 103 of 151 firms that hired interns.
Among them were hotel, fashion and beauty affiliates of conglomerates.
The ministry has ordered the companies to correct their practices and fined them a total of 312 million won.
They were found to have escaped paying a collective amount of 1.2 billion won to 1,204 interns.
There were 19 companies that did not provide contracts, 50 that did not pay overtime. There were also 45 that paid less than the minimum wage.