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영어

Since the IMF foreign exchange crisis of 1998, the Korean labor market has witnessed a disturbing increase in wage polarization and relative inequality. One example in particular is the significant difference in wages between regular and irregular employees. Due to this wage gap, employees and labor organizations have been demanding a change in employment status from irregular to regular employment and abolition of discrimination for irregular employees. This has caused much social conflict, especially as these issues have taken on political, economic, and social ramifications. Currently, the “Discrimination Correction System for Irregular Employees” refers to a system designed to remedy discriminative treatment through the issuance of correction orders by the Labor Relations Commission. These correction orders are meant to address cases where employees engaged in fixed-term, part-time, or dispatched employment (hereinafter referred to as “irregular employees”) have received discriminatory treatment on the basis of their “irregular” employment status when compared to regular employees who are working the same or similar jobs. When the Discrimination Correction System for Irregular Employees was introduced, it was expected that discrimination between regular and irregular employees would decrease as remedy applications were made and the Labor Relations Commission issued correction orders. However, the number of remedy applications filed with the Labor Relations Commission reached a peak in 2008 (a year after introduction of the system) and has fallen to an average of 100 applications in each of the past three years. This decreasing trend does not mean that introduction of the Discrimination Correction System has resulted in a decrease in actual discrimination for irregular employees. As questions have been raised as to whether this system is actually resolving discrimination, it is necessary to review its effectiveness. This thesis paper consists of three parts: The first part (II) deals with the background of introducing the Discrimination Correction System for Irregular Employees; The second part (III) summarizes the procedures of the current Discrimination Correction System for Irregular Employees; and the third part reviews major legal points in terms of improving the effectiveness of the Discrimination Correction System. Even though I have reviewed this system to identify practical uses for the purpose of protecting irregular employees, it is challenging to resolve discrimination against irregular employees in reality. The current Discrimination Correction System resolves discriminatory treatment after its occurrence through individual applications by fixed-term, part-time, or dispatched employees and the correction orders issued by the Labor Relations Commission. The difficulty arises due to the potential disadvantages irregular employees receive from their employers once they apply for correction. This effectively discourages irregular employees from applying, and this after-treatment would be difficult to reduce the discriminations completely. Looking back on the operations of the Discrimination Correction System, it can be generally evaluated as unsatisfactory.