"AGCグループ企業が「違法派遣」　労働者の直接雇用命じる判決確定＝韓国," 11 July 2024

"Japanese-to-English translation by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre"

The Supreme Court of Korea handed down a ruling in favor of the first and second judges in which court ordered the employment of workers. The lawsuit was filed by 23 former dispatched workers at AGC Fine Techno Korea (hereinafter referred to as Fine Techno), a group company of AGC (formerly Asahi Glass), to confirm their worker status. The ruling in favor of the plaintiffs was finalised.

178 workers who had been dispatched to Fine Techno were unilaterally notified of their dismissal in June 2015 by the company, which had taken issue with their decision to form a labour union. The workers filed a complaint with the Ministry of Employment and Labour, accusing Fine Techno of illegal dispatch and unfair labour practices. They also filed a civil lawsuit against the company, and have been fighting in court for nine years...

Under the Act on The Protection of Temporary Agency Workers, dispatched workers working for more than two years must be directly employed by the prime contractor, and dispatching them directly to production process work in manufacturing is prohibited.

On the other hand, a subcontracting agreement with a temporary staffing agency does not create an obligation for direct employment.

As a result, illegal dispatching is rampant, with companies ostensibly entering into subcontracting contracts but in reality giving direct instructions to dispatched workers.

Now that the ruling has been finalised, Fine Techno must express its intention to employ the dismissed workers...