MOEL Interpretation

L-M Council Act

Establishment of a Labor-Management Council


  •  
     Search
42 Records
42.The ○○ Central Association has 40 branches nationwide, with comprehensive authority over working conditions delegated from the Central President to each local branch president, including hiring, wages, working hours, promotions, transfers, leave, safety and hygiene, and compensation for workplace accidents. For branches with 30 or more employees and comprehensive decision-making authority over working conditions, are they required to establish a labor-management council under Article 4(1) of the Worker Participation Act? Under Article 4(2) of the same Act and Article 2(2) of its Enforcement Decree, is it sufficient to establish a council only at the central office without establishing separate councils at each branch?
41.◯ If some authority over decision-making on working conditions is delegated to a branch rather than the headquarters, is it mandatory to establish a labor-management council at each branch in addition to the central council?
40.◯ In the case of self-managed apartments, there is no objection to the Residents’ Representative Council acting as the employer side. However, in the case of outsourced management, the employer side is unclear. In the following cases, which entity should act as the employer? Apartment Residents’ Representative Council: Acts as the representative of the apartment residents and has decision-making authority over the working conditions (especially wages) of management office employees. Outsourcing Management Company: Performs management duties delegated under a management contract with the Residents’ Representative Council. Does not have decision-making authority over management office employees’ working conditions but has the authority to appoint management office staff. Apartment Management Office Director: Employed by the outsourcing management company, works on-site at the apartment complex, performs management duties on behalf of the company, but does not have authority over working conditions or the appointment of staff.
39.◯ The association was established under Article 36-2 of the Construction Technology Management Act to promote the joint interests of supervision specialist companies. The association has a secretariat to handle its operations; executive staff of the secretariat are appointed and removed by the president with the approval of the board of directors, and other staff are appointed and removed by the president. ◯ Must a labor-management council be established at the association’s secretariat, which consists of member supervision companies and exists to promote the joint interests of the member companies?
38.◯ The company consists of its Seoul headquarters and Gwangju plant. The Gwangju plant has more than 50 employees but does not have authority over working conditions, so it is said not to be a target for establishing a labor-management council. ◯ Article 4(2) of the Act on the Promotion of Worker Participation and Cooperation provides that if a business has workplaces in different regions, a labor-management council may also be established at those workplaces. Can a labor-management council be established at the Gwangju plant?
37.◯ Under Article 4(1) of the Act on the Promotion of Worker Participation and Cooperation (“Worker Participation Act”), labor-management councils must be established at the business or workplace level where authority over working conditions exists. However, in our case, if a labor-management council is established and operated at the business or workplace level, heterogeneous job types are mixed, making it unfeasible. ◯ Is it possible, therefore, to separate different job types and establish and operate a labor-management council for Job Type A at the business level and for Job Type B at the workplace level?
36.◯ Our company operates in construction, distribution, and service industries, with employees distributed as follows: 17 in construction, 10 in distribution, and 13 in service. If the workplace locations and working conditions differ for each group, must a labor-management council be established?
35.◯ Our company has a total of 390 employees in the same workplace, including 150 office workers and 240 production workers, and a labor union is already organized within the company. ◯ Recently, the company and the production workers (240 employees) intend to apply the Act on the Promotion of Worker Participation and Cooperation to operate a labor-management council exclusively for production workers. Can the council be formed and operated with only production workers as the employee representatives, excluding the 150 office workers?
34.◯ How can a labor-management council obtain approval from the Ministry of Labor? ◯ Can a labor-management council be established exclusively for “simple supervisory” positions, similar to the councils for public officials or teachers’ unions?
33.◉ Our company, ○○Eastern Inc., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ○○Company based in Houston, USA, with operations in Hong Kong. The workforce consists of 1 employer (representative) and 29 employees, including 2 overseas employees. Of the 2 overseas employees, one works at ○○Ltd. in Singapore and the other at ○○Ltd. in Hong Kong. ◉ Salaries are paid by each respective company, and work instructions and performance evaluations are carried out by the supervisors in each region. However, to maintain eligibility for medical insurance and national pension, our company has been paying the salaries directly and billing the corresponding costs from each company. Vacation and other benefits follow the calculation method set by our company. ◉ Should the count of regular employees include the 2 overseas employees, making it 30 or more, or should it be considered as 29 employees, delaying the establishment of a labor-management council until the workforce reaches 30?
32.◉ Among our 30 employees, 29 are subject to employment insurance, while the CEO does not pay employment insurance contributions. ◉ In this case, does the employed CEO count as an employee, making the company subject to the establishment of a labor-management council and a grievance committee?
31.◉ The national agency ○○청 operates 60 support centers nationwide to carry out a specific public project. Civilian employees at each support center are hired by the respective regional heads. ◉ Within the ○○ regional office, there are 4 support centers composed solely of 21 civilians (○○ Center: 7, ○○ Center: 5, ○○ Center: 5, ○○ Center: 4). Each center is managed and supervised by a center head appointed by the regional director from among the civilians. ◉ When a national administrative agency hires only civilian employees and establishes a separate organization and workplace composed solely of civilians to carry out a specific public project, is it mandatory to include civil servants in counting regular employees for determining whether a labor-management council must be established under Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation? ◉ The ○○ agency already has a workplace council including regional office staff, and 24 national civil servants are employed at the ○○ regional office.
30.◉ In operating sites in various regions, construction companies, due to the nature of the industry, subcontract work to multiple partner companies. Workers such as carpenters enter into employment contracts with each partner company separately. ◉ Under the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation (hereinafter “the Act”), labor-management councils must be established and operated if there are 30 or more regular employees. If the number of employees directly employed by the main contractor at each construction site is fewer than 30, is the main contractor exempt from establishing a council? And if a partner company has 30 or more employees, must a labor-management council be established for each partner company?
29.◉ Within a foreign multinational group, three subsidiaries operating in different industries jointly invested to establish a single Korean corporation. The corporation is divided into departments according to each industry and supervised and managed separately. Each department (Industry A: 35 employees, Industry B: 35 employees, Industry C: 15 employees) operates with an independent personnel, labor management, and business management system, holding separate authority over working conditions. The corporation has three representative directors, each responsible for one industry department, exercising independent management authority per department. ◉ In the case of such a foreign-company Korean corporation, is it permissible to establish labor-management councils by department, as units with authority over working conditions, under Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation?
28.◉ Our company is a children’s clothing manufacturer. When including sales staff dispatched to department stores, the total number of employees exceeds 50. Are we required to establish a labor-management council?
27.◉ The Seoul Regional Branch of the Railway Union is a field-level organization with about 500 union members (out of approximately 600 total employees). At the office-level branch, labor-management meetings have been held twice a year, and from 1997, the office has held labor-management councils twice a year. ◉ In the second half of 1998, a new office head argued that office-level labor-management councils could not be held, but meetings could, resulting in no council being held in the latter half of 1998, preventing labor-management consultation on pressing issues. ◉ Therefore, the questions are: Is it legally possible to hold a labor-management council at the office level? Also, under the agreement between this union and the Railway Administration, each branch has labor-management meetings—can these meetings be considered equivalent to a labor-management council?
26.◉ Our school is an accredited lifelong education institution established under Article 31(2) of the Lifelong Education Act. The school’s staff (56 teachers and 6 administrative staff) are covered by the Private School Teachers’ Pension Act. Regarding teachers’ service, working conditions, and continuing education, the regulations for national and public school teachers are applied by analogy. Is the school obligated to establish a labor-management council?
25.This office is a road traffic office established under the ○○ City Administrative Organization Establishment Ordinance, responsible for road and road facility management, illegal parking enforcement, and overweight vehicle monitoring. In addition to its affiliated public officials, the office is assigned facility maintenance workers (15 regular employees, whose working conditions are determined under a collective agreement between ○○ City and ○○ Union) and traffic supporters (40 people) who assist with parking enforcement, by the city. The office is delegated responsibilities for department placement, work assignments, and attendance management. Considering that appointment, salary, welfare, and other working conditions matters are managed at ○○ City, is the office required to establish a labor-management council?
24.The company in question is a foreign-owned enterprise operating in the food service industry, employing approximately 5,000 employees across about 100 branches nationwide. Each branch operates as a company-managed store under the supervision of a branch manager and managers who have signed employment contracts with the company. The headquarters manages the wages, working hours, promotions, job transfers, holidays, and leave of branch managers and managers, as well as the wage levels and payments of hourly and monthly part-time employees. However, branches recruit necessary staff (hourly and monthly part-time employees) on behalf of the headquarters. While working hours and break times are determined according to monthly schedules, the company’s ERP system allows headquarters to manage the working hours and break times of individual part-time employees at the branches. In this case, since the headquarters manages all employees’ working conditions through the ERP system, would it be sufficient to establish the labor-management council only at the headquarters, which holds the authority over working conditions?
23.When determining whether a private school is required to establish a labor-management council, should teachers be included in the count of regular employees?
<<  <  1 2 3 > >>


For further questions, please
call (+82) 2-539-0098 or email bongsoo@k-labor.com