The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the Act on the Protection, etc. of Fixed-term and Part-time Employees or the so-called 'Irregular Worker Protection Act', in the aspects of corporate responses to the enforcement of the law and cha...
The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of the Act on the Protection, etc. of Fixed-term and Part-time Employees or the so-called 'Irregular Worker Protection Act', in the aspects of corporate responses to the enforcement of the law and changes resulted to labor experience and working conditions of female workforce. Through this work the study aims to suggest policy measures that could add ress the job security issue of and occupational discrimination against irregular female workers in the Korean labor market.
After the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s, the number of irregular workers in Korea surged up due to the so-called 'flexible labor force management strategy'. Against the negative implication caused by the approach, in July 2007, the Irregular Worker Protection Act was enacted to address the discriminatory treatment against irregular workers while enhancing their job security.
Companies have been responding to the Act in various ways: as for the 2-year hiring period limitation on irregular workers, companies have responded to the rule by converting low ranked irregular employees into regular workers, changing contracts into the ones with no-fixed terms, outsourcing labor force via agencies and firing and hiring irregular workers in every 2 years; and in the case of prohibition of discriminatory treatment clause, companies strictly categorized the types of work assigned to the regular and irregular employees to avoid the rule, blocking the possibility of discrimination against irregular workers from the first place.
Some companies have sexually categorized occupational domains and provided different treatment and conditions to male and female employees, and other companies applied different standards and yardsticks to male and female workers even though the overall working condition provided is same to the employees of both genders. In most of the cases, the situations were ended up with disadvantaged or discriminatory occupational settings to female workers, causing indirect workplace segregation. Such a situation only maintains, or sometimes aggravates, the occupational gender typing in the labor market.
Companies, however, have sometimes changed their stance on the treatment of irregular workers due to active labor campaigns waged by irregular workers. For instance, white collared female employees with a fixed-term labor contract achieved reinstatement of their job by demanding the management to stop replacing irregular workers in every 2 years. Also part-time female workers of a major retail chain rescinded company's human resources outsourcing scheme by waging a long labor strike against the company.
Different approaches taken by each company have created different working conditions and experiences to the female irregular workers. As for the conversion of low ranking irregular female employees into regular workers, the clause enhanced the overall job security and treatment of female irregular workers, bringing more income and welfare benefits in their pocket.
By guaranteeing the retirement, labor contracts with no fixed-term has as well contributed to the improvement of job security among the irregular workers at some degree but still failed to achieve the perfect mark as they softened the conditions for employee dismissal, still allowing the dismissal of workers when the situation requires. However, it has its significance as it has open the door of new opportunities such as chance of wage raise, bonus and promotion, albeit on the limited basis, to some workers with no fixed-term contract, bringing some positive changes in working conditions of irregular workers.
However, the wage level of workers with a no fixed-term contract is still similar with that of fixed term employees, showing a significant gap compared to the regular counterpart. Most of them are block to the chance of promotion, and if not, the scope is highly limited. Therefore sometimes, workers with a no fixed-term labor contract are called as 'quasi-regular employees' as their employment status is somewhere between the regular and irregular workers.
In the case of 'outsourced' workers, 20-30% of their wage is withheld by their agency, the actual employer, as commission, causing serious erosion in net income amount as well as job security. On top of that, outsourced workers are considered neither the employees nor the members of the users and employer, finding themselves marginalized from both of the groups. Such an alienated working condition is causing a serious level of psychological stress among many outsourced workers.
Replacing irregular positions in every 2 years has a problem of forcefully pushing female contracted workers back to the labor market in every 2 years, degrading their level of job security significantly. This is causing female workers' career interruption and early exit from the labor market and, instead of encouraging them to keep their career path, forces female workers to seek other options such as marriage or becoming a full-time homemaker and caregiver, aggravating the occupational gender typing in the labor market. Therefore to fundamentally redress the issues surrounding female workers, more systemic and collective effort by irregular female workers and active collaboration with other interest groups - labor and civic groups, political parties and local communities- are required, forming a strong alliance with every stakeholder on the labor market.
In the perspective of corporate social responsibility, companies as well should take the initiative in addressing problems that traps irregular female workers. Companies, first, should have a rule of hiring regular workers in principle when recruiting personnel for the permanent positions, and instead of replacing personnel assigned to irregular posts in every 2 years, companies should convert such employees into regular workers in the case of low rank positions or change their contract into the one with no fixed-term at the point of contract renewal to enhance the job security of irregular workers. Plus, companies should avoid the use of outsourced workers and abolish the age limit on female workforce when recruiting.
Also, institutionally, there should be more stringent restrictions on the use of irregular workers and the hiring period should not exceed 1 year to induce companies to hire irregular workers only on a short-term basis limited to the temporary duties. In addition more active measures on preventing indirect occupational segregation should be introduced along with legal protections on contracted/sub-contracted workers. Plus, 'the principle of equal pay for work of equal value' should be applied to resolve the wage discrimination against irregular workers. To that end developing socially acceptable objective job analysis and standard wage system is prerequisite. Lastly a more systemic and institutionalized guarantee should be provided to the irregular female workers to ensure their basic maternity right and work-life balance support which are already guaranteed to the regular counterpart.
In the socio-cultural perspective, more attention should be paid on the issue of occupational gender typing. Defining and separating the role of women and men 'women are homemakers and men are breadwinners' is causing occupational gender segregation and career interruption among the female workers, playing as the biggest social bias that churns out the irregular female workforce.