More than 3,000 small business owners, small construction companies, and small business owners from across the country will gather at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 31st to call for a suspension of the Severe Accident Punishment Act. This is to urge the passage of a bill suspending the application of the Serious Disaster Act to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees at the plenary session of the National Assembly scheduled for the 1st. It is unprecedented for thousands of businesspeople to gather at the National Assembly.
People Power Party lawmakers, including floor leader Yoon Jae-ok, are urging the passage of a bill to postpone the application of the Serious Accident Punishment Act for two years at a general meeting of lawmakers held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 25th. If the bill to suspend the application of the Serious Accident Punishment Act is not passed at the plenary session of the National Assembly held on this day, the law will also apply to businesses with less than 50 employees from the 27th. 2024.1.25/News 1
The first round ended with the postponement bill not being processed at the plenary session on the 25th, but the second round has begun between the small and medium-sized business community and the National Assembly ahead of the plenary session on the 1st. The law began to apply to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees starting on the 27th.
According to the small business community on the 30th, 17 organizations, including the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Businesses, will hold a press conference in the form of a press conference in front of the main building of the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 31st, with about 3,000 small and medium-sized business representatives attending. The organizers’ goal is to have 2,000 officials from small and medium-sized construction companies, who are directly affected by the expansion of the Serious Accident Act, attend this event, in addition to 3,000 representatives from the small and medium-sized business community. With the Serious Accident Act expanded to small businesses with 5 to 50 employees, the small and medium-sized business community is concerned about the impact of a ‘second minimum wage increase’. Just as the last government’s sharp rise in the minimum wage caused companies to reduce new hiring, and companies that could not endure went out of business, leading to a sharp drop in employment, the implementation of the Serious Accident Act could lead to the same result. Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs and Startups, said, “The Serious Accident Act was opposed by large corporations, small and medium-sized businesses, and small business owners, but the National Assembly passed it without hesitation.” He added, “There must be a deferral of the law’s application to vulnerable workplaces with less than 50 employees.”
The small and medium-sized business community is concerned that the expanded application of the Serious Accident Punishment Act will lead to greater management burden and employment instability for workers than the impact of a steep increase in the minimum wage. Korea’s hourly minimum wage soared nearly 30% in two years from 6,470 won in 2017 to 8,350 won in 2019. As the burden of labor costs increased, the number of kiosks increased in restaurants and coffee shops, and unmanned checkout counters expanded in supermarkets.
Just as raising the minimum wage led to a decrease in employment, the Serious Accident Act, which is supposed to ensure job security, could once again lead to a reduction in jobs. Moo-ho Son, director of the Korea Restaurant Association, said, “There is talk that businesses that had 6 to 7 employees will reduce their employees to 3 or 4 to avoid being subject to the law.” “Even if we do this, 400,000 jobs will disappear,” he said. Mr. Lee, who runs a restaurant in Jongno, Seoul, said, “Now, when a major disaster occurs, business owners have no choice but to hire a lawyer. The basic fee for a criminal defense attorney is 10 million won, which is not a level that small business owners can afford.”
In particular, some point out that if a major disaster occurs in a business with less than 50 employees where one representative performs multiple duties such as sales, production, and general affairs, there is virtually no choice but to go through the process of closing the business. Shim Seung-il, president of the Korea High-Pressure Gas Industry Cooperatives Association, said, “Most small and medium-sized companies are stopped even if the CEO leaves for just a few days to be investigated.”
In a reality where there is no support or education to prepare for the Serious Accident Act, there are concerns that it will not have a preventative effect and will only produce punished businessmen. Jeong Jong-ho, president of the Korea Soft Food Cooperatives Association, said, “If it has less than 50 employees, it is a small business that can barely make a living.” He added, “If something goes wrong, rather than arresting the CEO, please come to the site and provide at least 10 minutes of training and at least create a manual.”
Since the law is not clear and difficult to follow, concerns are growing that the problem will grow in the form of ‘if you wear it on your nose, it’s a nose ring, and if you wear it on your ear, it’s an earring.’ Jeong Jin-woo, a professor at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, said, “The current law is at a level where the Ministry of Employment and Labor cannot properly answer what to do and how to do it, and even the Democratic Party has difficulty protecting it.” “He said.
☞Serious Accident Punishment Act
A law that punishes business owners and managers with imprisonment for more than one year or a fine of up to 1 billion won if a fatal accident occurs at an industrial site.
2024-01-30 18:00:00
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