Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156) - Republic of Korea (Ratification: 2001)

Other comments on C156

Observation

Direct Request

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The Committee notes the observations of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and the Korea Employers’ Federation (KEF), as well as the Government’s reply to the FKTU’s observations, communicated with the Government’s report.

Article 4 of the Convention. Other members of the family. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that article 22-2 of the Equal Opportunity and Work–Family Balance Assistance Act (Act No. 8781 of 21 December 2007, previously called the “Act on the Equal Employment of Both Sexes” or “Equal Employment Act”) was amended in 2012 to introduce the family care leave system. Under the revised article 22-2, the employer shall grant the request for leave to take care of a family member who is ill, injured or old, with the following exceptions: in cases prescribed by Presidential Decree, such as where it is impossible to employ a substitute or where the normal operation of business would be significantly hindered (in which case, the employer must justify the refusal in writing and endeavour to take measures such as adjusting working hours, limiting overtime work or other supportive measures). The Committee notes that the exceptional cases where family care leave can be refused are left to the discretion of the employer. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the family care leave system, including sex-disaggregated information by occupational sector on the number of requests for such leave and the number of, and justification given for, refusals.

Article 5. Childcare and family services and facilities. In its previous comment, the Committee had asked the Government to provide information on the availability and accessibility of affordable childcare services and facilities and to indicate how it ensures that sufficient public childcare services are provided and that the cost incurred by employers in order to provide childcare facilities does not adversely affect the employment of workers with family responsibilities. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that, as of 2013, it provided parents with free childcare service (for parents using childcare centres) and expanded childcare support (for parents taking care of their children at home) for any household with children under 5 years of age, regardless of their income level. According to a 2015 survey, childcare and education costs per child had declined by 41 per cent compared to 2012. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that, as of late 2015, childcare centres welcomed 56.2 per cent of the total number of infants, which meant that 81.1 per cent of childcare centre placement needs were covered. The Government supports employees in balancing work and family life by providing subsidies to employers to cover the cost of building and operating workplace childcare facilities. As of June 2016, there were 855 workplace childcare centres and 2,410 enterprises benefiting from workplace childcare subsidies. In order to increase childcare benefits for employees of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), it also supports the establishment of joint workplace childcare centres for SMEs within industrial complexes (24 centres in operation at the time of the report). The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide detailed information, including statistics, on the availability of and accessibility to affordable childcare services and facilities, including their utilization by workers.

Article 6. Information and education. The Committee notes the Government’s indication of the actions taken to promote greater awareness, public understanding and a climate conducive to a better work–family balance, such as the establishment, in 2016, of the Public–Private Work–Family Balance Council, the production of messages on work–family balance and their dissemination through video-clips, television, radio, advertisements and the Minister’s contributions to newspapers, online promotions, public transports, as well as through a casebook on the use of paternity leave and reduced hours during childcare periods and quarterly press releases on the use of these measures. The Committee also notes the FKTU’s observations that there is a low linkage between job training and employment; that only 10 per cent of women with career breaks use the new job centres which fail to provide professional employment services due to the lack of human resources, low wages and employment insecurity; and that workers’ demands are not properly taken into account in the Government-led governance system. The Government replies to FKTU’s observations that women whose careers have been interrupted find it hard to return to the labour market due to the duration of the break (9.2 years on average) and that they tend to prefer jobs in education or the social welfare service sector which enable work–family balance in addition to part-time jobs. It states that it is continuously increasing the number of new job centres, making efforts to adapt them to demand and that the satisfaction level of users is high. It recalls that workers’ views have been fully reflected in policies as workers’ organizations participate in regional Public–Private Work–Family Balance Councils and that, at the national level, the Council is coordinating with them. Finally, it indicates that private companies have also established, in 2014, the Task Force on Gender Parity and Empowerment of Women, a private consultative body which is composed of private businesses, public institutions and government agencies wanting to practice work–family balance on a voluntary basis. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide detailed information on the actions taken to promote greater awareness, public understanding and a climate conducive to overcoming existing difficulties for men and women workers with family responsibilities, including stereotyping with respect to family responsibilities. It also asks the Government to provide information on the way workers’ and employers’ organizations are fully integrated into the development, monitoring and updating of work–family balance measures.

Article 7. Vocational guidance and training. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the practical application of article 19-6 of the Equal Opportunity and Work–Family Balance Assistance Act, as amended, and article 10 of the Act on the Promotion of the Economic Activities of Career-Interrupted Women (No. 9101 of 2008), as amended, has been ensured through, on the one hand, a Program to Support Return to Work from Childcare Leave (as of February 2016), under which employers may receive support to set up training courses for employees to return to work after taking childcare leave, and, on the other hand, the establishment of new job centres for women across the country. It notes the information provided on the number of beneficiaries and courses offered, including new professional education and training courses in order to help women whose careers have been interrupted to secure decent work in new fields of activity. In its previous comment, the Committee asked the Government to indicate how it ensures that the measures applying the Convention are available to men and women workers with family responsibilities on an equal footing. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that no information is available in this regard. The Committee recalls that it considers that measures addressing the needs of workers with family responsibilities should be available to men and women workers on an equal footing. The Committee underlines the importance of regularly evaluating the effectiveness of programmes aimed at assisting all workers, men and women, to reconcile work and family responsibilities. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on measures taken to offer vocational guidance and training to both men and women workers with family responsibilities, including statistics disaggregated by sex and occupational sector.