Non-regular workers affiliated with GM Korea’s in-house subcontractors have won their final victory in a lawsuit filed against GM Korea demanding recognition of their worker dispatch relationship.
At a press conference announcing the position on the Supreme Court ruling on illegal dispatch of irregular workers at GM Korea held in front of the Supreme Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 25th, union members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union GM Korea Irregular Workers’ Association, who are the parties involved, are performing a performance of tearing up the notice of dismissal. 2024.7.25 jieunlee@yna.co.kr (Image source = Yonhap News)
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On the 25th, the 3rd Division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Eom Sang-pil) confirmed the original verdict in favor of the plaintiffs in five lawsuits filed by 128 irregular workers from tier 1 and 2 subcontractors at GM Korea’s Changwon, Bupyeong, and Gunsan plants against the general contractor to confirm their worker status. The ruling is that since the plaintiffs were in a dispatch relationship receiving actual command and orders from GM Korea, GM Korea should be considered the actual employer.
The court found that there was no problem with the original court’s decision that “not only the plaintiffs who were engaged in the direct production process, but also the plaintiffs who were engaged in indirect production process work such as logistics were employed by in-house subcontractors and then dispatched to the defendant’s (GM Korea) workplace, where they were directly directed and supervised, and were in a worker dispatch relationship.”
However, the Supreme Court ruled that some of the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit, who were employees of secondary subcontractors, were not considered to have a worker dispatch relationship, and thus were excluded from direct employment.
Previously, workers belonging to GM Korea’s in-house subcontractors filed a complaint to the Ministry of Employment and Labor in 2005 for illegal dispatching, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor acknowledged it. Afterwards, the Ministry of Employment and Labor sued the president of GM Korea and the representative of the subcontractor for violating the dispatch law, and in February 2013, the Supreme Court finally confirmed the fines imposed on former GM Korea president Nick Riley and others.
However, even after the Supreme Court ruling, there were cases where GM Korea did not convert irregular workers to regular workers or treated them unfairly. In response, the workers filed a lawsuit against the general contractor to confirm their worker status starting in 2015.
The Supreme Court made the final decision today after both the first and second trials sided with the irregular workers.
Reporter Son Seon-hee sheeson@asiae.co.kr
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Source: www.asiae.co.kr