Korea’s workplace harassment rate shows levels twice as high as that of EU countries or even higher, and an estimated loss based on wasted work time due to such harassment amounts to 4.78 trillion won. If we also consider the loss of labor power due to the victims’ mental stress or suicides, the loss is expected to be even greater.

Notwithstanding this, the current Act is lacking in legal basis upon which workplace harassment is explicitly prohibited, as well as in counseling/reporting procedures when harassment does occur and in victim protection mechanisms, which makes it difficult to prevent workplace harassment and protect the victims from such harassments.

Therefore, this Amendment seeks to prevent workplace harassment by prohibiting workplace harassment altogether, and by providing relevant provisions including the employers’ obligations in cases of workplace harassment, protection of victimized workers, etc. Workplace harassment is defined as a conduct that inflicts physical, mental and/or emotional pain on other workers or that degrades the workplace environment by exploiting workplace position or relationships, etc., beyond the reasonable scope of work.

Details

A. Prohibit the employers and workers from conducting workplace harassment, which is a conduct exploiting their workplace position or relationship, etc., beyond the reasonable scope of work to inflict physical, mental and/or emotional pain on other workers or to degrade the workplace environment (Newly insert Article 76-2)

B. Require the employer to conduct anti-harassment education every year to prevent workplace harassment necessary in establishing a safe workplace environment for the workers (Newly insert Article 76-3)

C. Allow any person who learns of workplace harassment to report such harassment to the Minister of Employment and Labor or to a labor inspector; require the Minister of Employment and Labor to conduct an investigation without delay to confirm such harassment and to notify the employer of the result; require the employer, in cases of confirmed workplace harassment following the aforementioned investigation, to take necessary measures to punish the person who conducted workplace harassment and to protect the victimized workers (Newly insert Article 76-4)

Article 76-3 (Anti-harassment education, etc.) (1) The employer shall conduct education to prevent workplace harassment (hereafter “anti-harassment education”) every year to prevent workplace harassment and to establish safe workplace conditions for the workers.
(2) The employer and workers shall participate in the anti-harassment education as referred to in paragraph 1.

Article 76-4 (Measures following workplace harassment)
(4) If the result of the investigation conducted according to paragraph 2 confirms the existence of workplace harassment, upon request of the victim, the employer shall take appropriate measures such as change of place of work, change in workers’ position, paid leave order, etc.
(5) If the result of the investigation conducted according to paragraph 2 confirms the existence of workplace harassment, the employer shall take necessary measures against the person committing such harassment including disciplinary actions, change of place of work, etc. In such cases, the employer shall listen to the opinion of the victimized worker regarding such measures before taking corrective measures such as disciplinary actions.