Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gerald.in.korea]

The Labor Board is the Administrative venue of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) that deals primarily unpaid wages, unpaid severance, unpaid anything really ... basically the "cash accounting" issues with Employment contracts.

The Labor Commission deals with the more complex issues of the Labor Standards Act such as Unfair Dismissal, etc.

The Labor Board is the instrument of choice for unpaid "xyz" and the Labor Commission is for "none of the above".

Both the Labor Board and Labor Commission are Adjudicate, (judge), the claims made by the Plaintiff (usually the employee). They are impartial and they do have have the responsibility to help the employee or employer to present their cases, notify either party of mistakes in the claims, or to correct legal arguments they can ask questions but they cannot be asked questions (help) by either party. If they did provide Legal Council to any of the parties they would not be impartial.

The MOEL does have a Korean Labor Attorney Legal Aid program but to qualify you need to earn less than 15,000,000 KRW per year. While that threshold applies to many foreign "3D" workers, it rarely applies to any one on an E2 or E7 VISA.

If you utilize the E-Filing system you must ensure that you can communicate with the Officers of the Labor Board or Labor Commission and the Language of the Administrative Courts is Korean; not English.

In addition, you must ensure that the Claim you are filing can be proven by the Evidence you have available: not all Evidence is proof.

If the claim is "they owe me money" then the body of evidence (all the emails, paperwork, bank statements, pay stubs, Pension, Health and Tax receipts or statements) CAN be proof for one or more of the categories of Income that is owed but not all.

For example National Pension Contributions are based upon Income, where as Overtime payment is based upon the Ordinary Wage at rate of 150% of the Ordinary Wage. The "lump sum" payment you receive in your bank account creates a bank statement and the Bank Statement does not state XXX KRW Ordinary wage, ABC KRW Bonus, ZZZZ Allowance. While the Bank Statement is Evidence, it is not necessarily proof of the specific Claim and when Claims are made (i.e. Unpaid Wages) the term is a Group Noun that is describing a Category of CLAIMS, like Animals or Criminals.

The MOEL online filing system is effect for simple issues with small sums for the proof required is easily identified in the Evidence.

When you make a Claim and file the Claim and the judgement is not in your favor you cannot file the same claim again. You will have to appeal the decision which is very expensive and time consuming.

So please ensure that you when you use the E-Filing system you take the time to learn the body of the Labor Standards Act, the working language (accrued wages, extraordinary wages, etc) then review your evidence and then categorize your evidence in the form of "this document proves X, this Document proves Y" and the requirement of proof is established by the existing body of Rulings of the Labor Commission, Labor Board and the Supreme Court of Korea.

The information is publicly available but you have to "put in the time to earn the dime" and if you file using the E-Filing system you will need to be fluent in Korean or at least have some one who is fluent who can help you communicate.

There is a great resource available for free from Android Play (and it is on Apple Store two but I carry no purse so I have no Apples) and it is called the Korean Labor Law Bible written by Mr. Bongsoo Jung a Licensed Certified Public Korean Labor Attorney. His Law Firm KangNam Labor Law Firm has won cases within the Supreme Court of Korea for Foreign Employees (if your remember CDI that was him) and the book he wrote is the definitive body of work on the Korean Labor Standards Act in Korea and is in almost every Lawyers office.

The online MOEL efiling is located here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kLabor.mhybrid

The Labor Law Bible is located here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kLabor.mhybrid

Please make sure "your brains are loaded before you shoot your claim off", because there are no "do overs" and a "little bit of knowledge" is a dangerous thing in any court process.