Application for unfair dismissal relief upon termination of daily worker contract... Labor Committee “Cannot be considered an employee”

Threatened to quit due to unreasonable salary increase demands
The application was dismissed as “not eligible as a party.”

When day workers who claimed they would resign if their wages were not increased received notice of dismissal from the company, they filed an application for relief, claiming ‘unfair dismissal,’ but the Labor Relations Commission dismissed the application. The Labor Relations Commission ruled that the termination of the contract was agreed upon between both parties and that these daily workers could not be the party requesting relief.

Last February, the Gyeongnam Regional Labor Relations Commission decided to dismiss the case of unfair dismissal relief filed against the company by worker B, who worked as a freelancer at ship processing company A.

Mr. B and others have been working with the company since last year after signing a verbal contract. However, soon after, they demanded a salary increase and announced their intention to resign if the company did not accept it.

Eventually, Company A notified them via text message that their employment relationship had ended. Mr. B and others objected to this, claiming that there was a problem with the method of notification of dismissal, and filed an application for relief from unfair dismissal to the Labor Relations Commission.

The company argued that the contract was legally terminated. Company A's legal representative said, "The workers threatened not to proceed with work unless they changed their wages to favorable conditions. The company had no choice but to agree to this and treat the employment relationship as terminated. In particular, they paid 3.3% business income tax, not earned income tax, and did not subscribe to the four major insurances. In other words, they signed a service contract on an equal footing with the employer."

The Gyeongnam Provincial Council also ruled in favor of Company A and dismissed the application for relief. Ginowi explained, “The legal nature of the contract concluded between the worker and the employer cannot be considered a normal employment contract relationship,” and “When looking at the phone call details, etc., the worker also recognized the relationship between the parties as an equal relationship, not a subordinate relationship, and appears to have resigned voluntarily. Therefore, he is not eligible to apply for relief from unfair dismissal.”

Attorney Song Jae-baek of Daeryun Law Firm, which represented Company A, pointed out, “The applicants took advantage of the company’s lack of manpower to demand an unreasonable salary increase, and used this as an excuse to cause discord within the team,” adding, “The reason this was possible in the first place is because there is no subordinate relationship.”

“In addition, because there were no additional agreements, such as a ban on concurrent employment, the applicants were free to participate in other construction projects and perform parallel work on days when they were not working,” he said. “As a result of comprehensive consideration of all circumstances, the status of freelance applicants as employees was not recognized, and all claims for wages that could be received during the period of dismissal were dismissed.”

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Application for unfair dismissal relief upon termination of daily worker contract... Labor Committee “Cannot be considered an employee” (Shortcut)