Seoul to defer workplace safety enforcement by 2 years

Protesters hold placards Wednesday in front of a meeting room at the National Assembly where officials of the government and the ruling People Power Party lawmakers agreed to defer the enforcement of the Serious Disasters Punishments Act. (Yonhap)

The conservative Yoon Suk Yeol administration and the ruling People Power Party on Wednesday agreed to defer by two years the enforcement of the controversial Serious Disasters Punishments Act, which can hold executives criminally liable for deadly workplace disasters.

The announcement, made at a meeting with Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik and People Power Party lawmakers, is expected to extend the grace period of the rule to 2026 for small enterprises, as the law was initially poised to come into effect in about a month's time for businesses that have 49 employees or less.

Rep. Yu Eui-dong, policy chief of the People Power Party, said it is premature to enforce the workplace safety law as planned, and that legislative moves will follow. Yu cited a survey by the business lobby group, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, that less than 1 in 4 "small companies" are prepared for the new law.

"(South Korea) will not be able to achieve the goal of worksite disaster prevention if we turn a blind eye on what is happening in reality and if the law is too hastily enforced," Yu said.

In the meantime, the government and the ruling party vowed to spend up to 1.5 trillion won ($1.16 billion), including on the additional cost for workplace safety management due to policy changes, by 2025.

Under the current rules effective on Jan. 27, 2022, executives of companies with 50 employees or more are punishable with at least one year behind bars, or a fine of up to 1 billion won, in the case of a deadly workplace incident.

Since the implementation of the law, there have been 12 court rulings regarding the violation of the workplace safety law in the wake of deadly incidents, and all executives charged with the violations have been found guilty.

The interim leader of the minor opposition Justice Party, Kim Jun-woo, criticized the move, saying that about 80 percent of all workplace disasters are taking place in small enterprises.

According to the latest data by the Labor Ministry, Korea has over 1.95 million small companies with 49 employees or less nationwide, as of 2021. Out of the total 1.99 million companies, these small companies accounted for 97.8 percent.