Anticipated plan for labour inspection for 2023 - Part 1

26 January 2023 2 min read

By Hoin Lee

At a glance

The Ministry of Employment and Labour (MOEL) has updated its plan regarding labour inspections for 2023.

Reproduced with permission of the authors Hoin Lee, Weon Jung Kim, Ki Young Kim, Paul Cho at Kim & Chang.

Considering the current Administration’s labour policy that focuses on establishing a fair labour market by enforcing the rule of law in labour and employment relations, it is expected that the MOEL will reinforce its labour inspections in areas where the risk of potential violations of labour law is high. The details of the plan in 2023 based on press release issued by the MOEL are as follows:

Regular Inspection

A regular inspection is conducted on a periodic basis in accordance with the labour inspection plan established at the beginning of each year.
Regular inspections are expected to focus on businesses that employ a large number of vulnerable groups, such as young employees, women, or foreign labourers, businesses where employees work long hours, and businesses that are suspected of unfair labour practices.

Ad Hoc Inspection

An ad hoc inspection is conducted in industries / sectors that is usually perceived to have poor HR management system by the MOEL.
In particular, such inspections are expected to be conducted on businesses that are suspected of (i) misuse / abuse of the comprehensive wage system or the fixed overtime allowance, (ii) delaying the payment of wages, and (iii) unfair labour practices. In addition, businesses that are vulnerable to workplace harassment due to a toxic work environment and businesses that are likely to experience difficulties in managing labour relations due to rapid growth, such as platform businesses, are expected to be subject to an ad hoc inspection as well.
An ad hoc inspection will also be conducted based on reports or petitions alleging violations of labour law.

Special Inspection

A special inspection is a comprehensive labour inspection conducted on businesses that have been subject to public criticism for its serious violation of the law, such as workplace harassment or unfair labour practices.

The MOEL has recently issued press releases on outcomes of labour inspections in many cases to prevent the recurrence of similar cases, and this practice is expected to continue in 2023. Therefore, companies should be mindful that the results of labour inspections could have a significant impact on their reputation.

The MOEL’s plan for labour inspections for 2023 in detail is expected to be released soon, and we will keep you posted once such detailed plan become available.