MOEL Interpretation

L-M Council Act

Composition of the Labor-Management Council


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97 Records
97.🔸 At Workplace A, the union originally represented 70% of the employees, but since about three years ago membership has fallen to below 40% and continues not to represent a majority of employees. 🔸 At Workplace A, the term of the employee representatives on the labor-management council expired on March 31, 2008. Since the union does not represent a majority of employees, there is a desire to promptly constitute new employee representatives who can represent all employees. However, due to conflict between union and non-union employees, each side is attempting to establish separate employee representative groups. Question 1) If a collective agreement (effective July 1, 2007 – June 30, 2009) grants the union authority to appoint employee representatives even though the union no longer represents a majority of employees, is this lawful? Question 2) If employee representatives are elected by an election management committee that includes the employer, are the elected employee representatives lawfully appointed? Furthermore, if conflict between unions prevents the election of employee representatives and therefore the labor-management council cannot be convened, can the employer be held legally responsible for failing to hold the council meeting?
96.🔸 In the collective agreement concluded between labor and management, union membership eligibility is defined as “all employees except labor and personnel managers, accounting officers and managers, and planning officers and managers.” In practice, however, union membership is further restricted to exclude “company executives, the general affairs section chief and general affairs department head, accounting staff, section chief and department head, planning staff and section chief, the CEO’s secretary, and the CEO’s driver.” 🔸 Given this, do individuals such as “company executives, the general affairs section chief and general affairs department head, accounting staff, section chief and department head, planning staff and section chief, the CEO’s secretary, and the CEO’s driver” also possess the right to vote for, and the eligibility to be elected as, employee representatives on the labor-management council?
95.🔸 After a company-level union resolved to change its organizational form into an industrial union, it was renamed the “○○○○ Industrial Union ○○ Chapter,” and the former company-level union filed for dissolution. As a result, workers who withdrew from the ○○ Chapter and those who had not joined it constituted more than half of all employees at the workplace. If these employees, independently of the ○○ Chapter, formed a workers’ council and elected a representative, would the authority to represent employees lie with “the representative of the workers’ council composed of a majority of all employees” or with the “○○○○ Industrial Union ○○ Chapter”?
94.🔸 Our company operates restaurants nationwide, employing about 1,000 workers across many locations. Each location has designated management staff: a store manager and first and second assistant managers. The store manager holds overall authority to operate and supervise the store, while the first and second assistant managers, who work on shifts, hold limited supervisory authority when the store manager is absent (during their assigned hours). Inquiry 1: In such cases, should these store managers and assistant managers be regarded as “employers” under Article 2 of the Labor Standards Act, and therefore be excluded from voting or eligibility to be elected as employee representatives in the Labor-Management Council? Inquiry 2: Because employee turnover is high (26.6% with less than three months of service, 17.1% with less than six months), there is concern that by-elections for employee representatives of the Labor-Management Council will occur too frequently. Would it be appropriate to limit eligibility as employee representatives only to employees who, as of the election date, have worked continuously for a certain period (e.g., three or six months)? Inquiry 3: When electing multiple employee representatives, is it permissible for employees to vote for more than one candidate? And may an election management committee voluntarily organized by employees independently decide on restrictions for candidate eligibility and voting methods?
93.🔹 Our labor union is a majority union (organized by more than half of the employees). The union president was dismissed under the guise of termination from his union position, and on October 21, 1997, filed an unfair labor practice remedy application with the ○○ Regional Labor Relations Commission, thereby contesting the validity of the dismissal. The employer has interpreted this to mean that he no longer qualifies as an employee representative of the Labor-Management Council, creating a dispute over his eligibility. 🔹 Although there is no issue with his status as a worker under the Labor Standards Act, he is clearly a worker under the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act. Given that there are no grounds for disqualification from serving as a union representative, should not the union representative, by virtue of his position, continue to participate as an employee representative in the Labor-Management Council?
92.🔹 Can a worker who is currently under disciplinary suspension participate as a member of the Labor-Management Council?
91.🔹 At our company, site supervisors are employed on a one-year daily contract basis. Their status, pay, and welfare benefits are set differently from the head office employees, and they are classified as “site laborers,” who make up about 57% of all employees. When electing worker representatives to the Labor-Management Council, should the site manager be regarded as a worker and thus be eligible for election as a worker representative, or should he be considered a managerial representative of the employer and therefore excluded from eligibility as a worker representative?
90.🔹 Company “A” has a labor union organized by a majority of its workers, with branches at each workplace. The union has established a labor-management council at each workplace and, in exercising its authority, appointed one out of ten worker representatives at each workplace council from among the executives of the industry-level union headquarters. The company argues that such union executives do not qualify as worker representatives on the grounds that they belong to the headquarters. If an executive of the union headquarters is appointed—not elected—as a worker representative by the union, can that executive serve as a worker representative on the workplace labor-management council?
89.🔹 What are the eligibility requirements for serving as a worker representative on a labor-management council? 🔹 Article 6 of the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation provides that, “where a labor union organized by a majority of workers exists, the worker representatives shall be the representative of that union and persons designated by the union.” In this regard, can an employee directly hired by the union (e.g., Head of Policy Planning) serve as a worker representative on the labor-management council of the union’s affiliated workplace?
88.🔹 Our labor union is the ○○ Industrial Labor Union Branch, organized by a majority of the workers at the hospital. Pursuant to Article 6(2) of the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation, the union sought to appoint four worker representatives to the hospital’s labor-management council, including a union full-time official who, while still an employee of the hospital, is currently working at the regional headquarters (a higher-level union organization). The union requested the hospital to convene the labor-management council accordingly. 🔹 However, the hospital refused, arguing that although the full-time union official dispatched to the higher-level organization legally retains an employment relationship, in practice, the subordinate relationship with the employer is temporarily suspended, and thus such person cannot serve as a worker representative of the labor-management council. Therefore, the question arises: does a full-time union official dispatched to a higher-level union body have the eligibility to serve as a worker representative of the labor-management council of his/her company? View A: A union full-time official dispatched to a higher-level organization is effectively suspended from performing under the employment contract with the employer and therefore is not eligible to serve as a worker representative of the labor-management council. View B: Even if one is a full-time union official, only the obligation to provide prescribed labor under the employment contract is exempted. The worker’s status as an employee of the workplace is not fully suspended or denied. Accordingly, such person remains eligible to serve as a worker representative of the labor-management council.
87.🔹 In our company, the officers of a workplace council (“직장협의회”) serve as worker representatives in the labor-management council. However, the workplace council is not composed of all employees, its officers were not elected through a direct vote of all employees, and its bylaws stipulate that both current and former union officials are ineligible to serve as officers and are even denied voting rights. Question 1: Under the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation (“the Act”), worker representatives of the labor-management council must be elected by workers through a direct and secret ballot. Do the current workplace council officers qualify as worker representatives? Question 2: If the current workplace council officers are not qualified as worker representatives, should their qualifications be immediately terminated and new worker representatives elected for the labor-management council? In such an election, should voting rights and eligibility for candidacy be equally granted to all workers, including current and former union officials? Question 3: If the company insists on maintaining the current workplace council officers as worker representatives and refuses to elect new representatives, what measures should be taken?
86.🔹 Our company consists of headquarters (Gwangju), two plants (Gokseong and Pyeongtaek), and one business office (Seoul), employing a total of 5,077 workers (headquarters: 2,832; Gokseong Plant: 1,678; Pyeongtaek Plant: 104; Seoul Office: 463). Of these, 3,772 workers (headquarters: 1,928; Gokseong Plant: 1,578) are union members, representing 74% of the total workforce (5,077). However, no union branch has been organized at the Pyeongtaek Plant or Seoul Office. Question 1: In the absence of a labor union (branch) or any organization representing workers at the Pyeongtaek Plant, is it possible to establish a labor-management council there? Question 2: If a labor-management council is established at the Pyeongtaek Plant, can worker representatives be appointed by the union, or must they consist only of employees belonging to the plant?
85.🔹 In the case of an apartment complex under consigned management by a management company, the management office itself registers as a business entity (representative: management office director) due to the nature of the workplace, and accounting is also operated independently from the management company on a separate account basis. The salaries of management office employees are paid directly using management fees collected from residents of each apartment complex. Salary increases, staffing adjustments, and all welfare-related conditions for employees are directly decided by the residents’ representative council, taking into account the financial burden of the residents’ management fees. Accordingly, the employer’s contributions to national pension, health insurance, and employment insurance are borne from residents’ management fees. 🔹 Furthermore, the management company has no influence over salary expenditures, as these are determined by the residents’ representative council. During the consigned management period, the company only receives a fixed monthly service fee, while the responsibility for accounting, facility management issues, and financial accidents lies with the residents’ council. 🔹 Given this situation, where employees’ wages are determined and paid under the decisions of the residents’ representative council, in establishing a labor-management council at a workplace with 30 or more employees, who should be considered the employer representative?
84.🔹 To ensure the smooth handling of employee grievance resolution and other tasks of the Labor-Management Council, would it be a violation of the law if employee representatives were given full-time status?
83.● The company is considering appointing the CEO, the head of the HR department, the HR team leader, and the HR manager as employer representatives. However, the current head of the HR department and HR team leader are seconded public officials. ● The company’s articles of incorporation state: “The mayor may, when necessary to achieve the corporation’s purpose of establishment, second public officials in consultation with the CEO.” Accordingly, seconded public officials are granted the same authority and responsibilities as the organization’s own employees with respect to actual duties performed, positions, titles, staffing, and other matters. ● In this case, can the seconded public officials serving as the HR department head and HR team leader be appointed as employer representatives?
82.○ In a company composed of one president, one branch manager, one accounting staff member, and 93 field workers, the accounting staff resigned. Under these circumstances, can the labor-management council be composed of 2 employer representatives and 3 employee representatives? Also, if employer representatives are not appointed and the labor-management council cannot be convened, does this constitute a violation of the law?
81.○ When establishing a labor-management council, if the business representative who is an ex officio employer representative is a non-full-time (part-time) representative, may a subordinate full-time executive be appointed as the ex officio employer representative instead? Additionally, if the non-full-time representative is excluded from the composition of employer representatives, are there any applicable penalty provisions?
80.○ If the labor union representing the majority of employees is a branch of an industrial union, does the employee representative become the chairperson of the industrial union, or the representative of the branch?
79.○ According to Article 12 (Election and Qualifications of Executives) of the Articles of Incorporation of the ○○ Transportation Support Center for the Mobility Disadvantaged, the chairperson of the incorporated association shall be the Director General of Transportation Affairs of ○○ City (a public official). Article 14 provides that the chairperson represents the board of directors and serves as its chairperson. However, Article 17 stipulates that the Director General of the Transportation Support Center represents the center and oversees its operations and management. – Furthermore, Article 4 of the Center’s Organization Regulations provides that the Director General oversees the center’s operations and directs/supervises staff; Article 6 provides that the chairperson is responsible only for matters pertaining to the board of directors; and Article 4 of the Personnel Regulations grants the Director General the authority to appoint and dismiss employees of the center. ○ In this context, under Article 6(3) of the Act on the Promotion of Workers’ Participation and Cooperation, is the ex officio employer representative (the “representative of the workplace”) the Director General of the Transportation Support Center, who oversees the center’s operations?
78.○ Worker A, employed by ○○ Corporation, was elected on January 9, 2017, as a worker representative with a 3-year term. While serving in that role, he reached the mandatory retirement age on December 31, 2018. Pursuant to Article 21 of the Act on the Employment of the Elderly and the company’s work rules, his retirement benefits were settled on the retirement date. However, through an extension of service, he was rehired the very next day (January 1, 2019) as a fixed-term employee for one year, and he has continued to serve as a worker representative. ○ In this case, where Worker A’s status changed from regular employee to fixed-term employee, does his qualification as a worker representative—conferred while he was a regular employee—remain valid after the conversion? View A (For Continuation): Even though retirement benefits were settled on December 31, 2018, this was a measure pursuant to Article 21 of the Act on the Employment of the Elderly and does not constitute a true severance of employment. In practice, Worker A continued employment from the very next day as a fixed-term employee. Since the only change was his status from regular to fixed-term while remaining employed at the same workplace, and since the position of worker representative is inherently tied to the individual, it is reasonable to view that Worker A retains his qualification as worker representative until the end of the original term. View B (For Termination): Because the prior employment relationship validly ended with retirement, Worker A lost his status as a regular employee. Accordingly, the qualification as a worker representative, which was based on his status as a regular employee, should also be considered lost. Moreover, since a worker representative’s role and interest depend on the worker’s employment status, it may be inappropriate for him to continue in that role despite the change in status. At minimum, a confirmation of confidence (e.g., re-endorsement or re-election) should be required.
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