Women Workers Under the Double Burden
of Unstable Employment & Gender Discrimination
- Jan-May 2001 -
Lee, Jung-hee KWWAU Secretary-General
A total of 1,119 counseling cases were received by the Hotline for Equality from January to may 2001, an increase of 63% from the previous year (see Table 1). 1,023 cases with the exception of 96 special cases, have been analyzed on a case by case basis.
Unpaid wages took up 31.2% of the counseling cases, lower than the rate of 59.1% of the previous year but showing an increase in the overall counseling cases.
Compulsory layoffs, unfair acts and unstable employment took up 25.4% of the counseling cases, doubling the rate and number of increase in counseling.
With the increase in counseling, the number of counseling on unstable employment, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, maternity protection and other employment related counseling doubled. The counseling on unpaid wages also increased but the rate showed a decrease.
In addition, counseling on unfair acts of gender discrimination and on the pressure to quit using marriages, pregnancy and childbirth as pretexts were 97 in total and took up 9.5%, and this included sexual harassment within the workplace, dirty language, physical abuse and also concerned maternity protection, showing how women suffered from the double burden of unstable employment and gender discrimination daily.
Counseling on maternity protection increased and included questions on the extension and application of maternity protection.
Table 1. Reality of Counseling According to Type for 2000 & 2001
|
Type of Counseling |
Jan-May 2001 (number, %) |
Jan-May 2000 (number, %) |
|
Unpaid Wages |
319 (31.2%) |
272 (59.1%) |
|
compulsory layoffs, unfair dismissals, unfair practices, unstable employment |
260 (25.4%) |
130 (20%) |
|
gender discrimination |
97 (9.5%) |
49 (7.6%) |
|
sexual harassment |
105 (10.3%) |
50 (7.7%) |
|
dirty language, physical abuse |
57 (5.6%) |
53 (8.2%) |
|
maternity protection |
50 (4.9%) |
18 (2.8%) |
|
occupational disease |
17 (1.6%) |
19 (2.9%) |
|
other employment related counseling |
118 (11.5%) |
58 (12.6%) |
|
Total* |
1,023 (100%) |
649 (100%) |
* with the exceptions of other counseling and re-counseling cases.
※ range of interviewees : single 47.9%, minors 38.4%, with less than 3 years of working experience 74.9%, full-time 64.5%, with union 12.5% (with the exception of people who did not reply)
Characteristics of the Reality of Women's Employment As Seen Through Counseling
(1) The Labor Standards Law was not observed in the payment of severance benefits and other allowances for irregular women workers.
The Labor Standards Law is applicable to even to limited contract workers and part-time workers (working time is lesser per week than full-time workers) if they work more than 15 hours per week and if there were no absences, weekly and monthly holidays, menstruation and maternity leaves must be paid and retirement allowance, yearly and monthly leave and dismissal limitations were compulsory under law but it was found that none of the benefits were observed. Weekly holidays must be formulated by the number of working hours per day multiplied by hourly pay, and yearly and monthly leave formulated based on the working hours of a regular worker.
■Is there no retiring allowance for contract workers?
I have worked part-time at Bank A for 4 to 5 years. My contract was renewed every six months (renewed twice a year) and extended if the necessity arose. I left about 20 days ago and was informed that I was not eligible for retiring allowance. Is it possible for me to receive any retiring allowance? (KWWAU North Cholla branch)
→ If the internal regulations within a workplace in any way hinders the Labor Standards Law, then the Labor Standards Law can be applied and legally resolved through petitions.
■No severance pay after 6 years of work
I worked in a restaurant from December 1994 to February 7 , 2001 and with the change of ownership, was told to leave. My monthly wage was 1,200,000 won and my last wage was computed by the number of days worked multiplied by the daily pay. I was given 300,000 won as a bonus and was told that I could not receive any retiring allowance. How can I receive my retiring allowance? (KWWAU Ansan branch)
→The Labor Standards Law stipulates that everyone is eligible for severance pay if they had worked in a workplace with over 5 employees for over a year. This case was petitioned and the Department of Labor ordered that 5,400,000 won be paid out to the party concerned as retiring allowance.
Unpaid yearly, monthly and weekly leaves can be filed for payment at any time within the period of three years.
(2) There is an increase of illegal activities such as pressuring women workers to transform to contract agency commissioned work, temporary work and contract work on the pretext of economic restructuring and economic depression.
Imposing different working conditions for women workers is a clear violation of the Labor Standards Act (clause 5, equal treatment) and the Equal Employment Act. In addition, if a full-time worker were to transform into a temporary or contract worker, she had to be dismissed or resign from her post. She would be placed in the position of an irregular worker in her new capacity as a temporary or contract worker. She must be aware of all details concerning her new working position. A dismissal must have valid reasons and if it were dismissal due to management difficulties, then she must deploy all efforts possible to prevent her dismissal from work.
■Is it true that only temporary workers are transformed into contract workers?
I am 32 years old, married and have worked as an editor on a temporary basis in a university publishing house for 11 years from October 1990. There was a union in the university but temporary workers were not eligible for membership. The wage system was equal to that of the university personnel and only women worked on a temporary basis and never on contracts. However, the university wants temporary workers to work as contract workers. Is it fair that we temporary workers be submitted to contract renewals every year after all these years? (KWWAU)
■Transformation into contract work
In 1998, I was honorably dismissed from my work due to financial difficulties in the company and worked as a contract agency leased worker for 2 years until February 2000. When my contract ended, the company stipulated that they could not legally re-hire me as a leased worker and asked me to join them as a 1-year contract worker. The situation of the company has improved and is actually in a better situation than in 1998 with the onset of the IMF bailout. I think it is really unfair that they would demand a transformation into contract work. (KWWAU Busan branch).
→This is a typical example of the reality of women workers who continue to do the same work but in deteriorating working conditions. The lease law stipulates the employer to directly hire leased workers after two years. It would appear as if the company is abiding by the law and directly re-hiring the workers as outlined in the law but in reality, this is an unstable form of employment as the workers are under contract for a limited time and there are usually no contract renewals which means dismissal from work.
(3) Gender discrimination cases such as gender discriminatory unfair practices, pressure to retire upon marriage, pregnancy and birth increased from 49 cases to 97 from last year.
Of the cases, discrimination on hiring procedures took up the most with 35 cases, discriminatory layoffs with 20 cases, and discriminatory wages with 15 cases. However, in most cases, the employers when faced with the struggles by women workers said that these were routine procedures and that they had no precedents to do otherwise. In spite of this attitude, the women struggled to get recognition from the Department of Labor that this was a violation of the existing laws, raising the alarm against gender discrimination practices and sturdily safeguarding their legal rights (see previous newsletter for the case of Lee Eun-ja).
■Pressuring to leave after childbirth
I worked as a telephone operator for the National Livestock Cooperative for 6 years. I was due on February 10, 2001 and the company said that no one had ever received maternity leave and so I was not eligible for maternity leave. Everyone who had given birth had to resign from their posts. The company said there are plans to change the operator system to an automatic system and that there would be no maternity leave but that I could be transferred to another post. (KWWAU Ansan).
→After counseling with the Hotline for Equality, it was confirmed that maternity leave was a legal right to be given upon application and not something that an employer can decide arbitrarily. Accordingly, she informed the company of this legality and decided to go on maternity leave. As to the resignation pressured upon her, she decided to fight against the company after she returned from maternity leave due to mental and physical exhaustion as she was at the final stages of her pregnancy.
■Flight leave not applicable to pregnant pilots on ground service
Ms Yoon had been working as a pilot for 5 years and became pregnant last year. As pregnant workers were not allowed to fly, Yoon opted for ground service. There was a system called flight leave available for pilots which allows pilots to go on leave for 2 years with pay if they were found suffering from hepatitis, bone fractures, cold or skin diseases which did not hinder the daily life of the pilots but which can affect flying. However, this system is not applicable to pregnant pilots and as such, women are not eligible for flight security allowance (1/3 of wages). Isn't this discrimination for pregnant women? Why should only male pilots receive flight leave for personal sickness, colds or self-inflicted injuries and not women pilots? (KWWAU)
→The request for a formal reply on the issue was sent by mail to the Department of Labor on March 24 and on April 21, the reply came that 「according to the analysis by a physical examiner on flight leave qualifications outlined in Aviation Ordinance Law No. 95 Attachment no. 14, it was true that all physical conditions mentioned were applicable to flight leave but it was irrational that pregnancy be omitted from the flight leave applications」.This was a definite confirmation of gender discrimination. Yoon submitted the reply as well as a petition for unpaid allowances given out to education trainers while on ground service to the local labor office. The company has formally accepted the reply from the Department of Labor and in the case of an order by the local labor office to pay Yoon the overdue allowances, the company has promised to settle this together with the application of flight leave by pregnant pilots.
(4) Increasing counseling on sexual harassment in the workplace from 50 cases last year to 105 cases
On the analysis of counseling on sexual harassment cases, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate the workplace from pleasure houses. The victim suffers from mental and physical stress as well as receiving unfair measures and pressure to resign from the assaulter at work. 58.4% of those who received counseling worked in places with less than 30 employees and only 12,5% worked in places with unions showing that these women did not have access to people who could help them to fight against such treatment from the very beginning.
In most cases, the assaulters were senior colleagues who hold the power to dismiss them and so it is often difficult for the women to openly resolve the issue of sexual harassment. Additionally, in most of the cases, sexual harassment had taken place behind doors and so there was little evidence. In spite of such difficulty, women have taken the cases to the relevant agencies and fought steadily for settlement.
■Sexual harassment from foul language to physical abuse
Ms Lee, a 25-year old started work as a secretary last December in a construction company. She suffered on the hands of the company president who was over 70 years old. He used to touch her thighs when she entered his office to get his approval on documents, saying she was his lover. In February, he insulted her by describing his sexual relations with his spouse and describing the breasts of foreign women. He would kiss her and touch her breasts when there was no one in the office. She told a senior male colleague of her dilemma but was further revolted when he said that he used to harass women during his bachelor days. On June 8 when she talked back at the president when he verbally abused her, she was slapped twice and fired from her job (KWWAU Ansan).
→Lee has been fired from her job. She has submitted a petition against the president of the company on the grounds of sexual harassment, physical abuse and unfair dismissal to the Department of Gender Equality, demanding open apology and compensation.
■Sick leave owing to symptoms of sexual harassment…
I am a 29 year old single woman and have worked as a clerk in a university for 8 years. I was a victim of sexual harassment last year and the case was recognized as such and I continued working, trying to forget what had happened. However, a student's struggle for campus autonomy occurred and the incident was again brought out in the open. The nightmare of what had happened was revived again and I decided to apply for sick leave but was informed that I was not eligible for paid sick leave (50% of wages). I was trying to apply for sick leave due to post-trauma symptoms of sexual harassment. A psychiatrist's report must be submitted to get sick leave and as I am still single, I feel hesitant to go for a psychiatric evaluation (KWWAU Ansan).
→Counselors from the Hotline accompanied Lee to the hospital and the psychiatric evaluation was submitted. The university gave her six months of sick leave, recognizing the symptoms as arising from sexual harassment. The Hotline advised her to apply as suffering from industrial accidents within the workplace but the interviewee decided to submit the doctor's report and get sick leave instead.
Sexual harassment as well as physical and verbal abuse are one of the causes of unstable employment. However, the employer would ignore the appeals by the victims and instead impose unfair measures on them.
77.2% of the physical and verbal assaulters were senior colleagues (44 cases out of 57 cases). This shows that physical and verbal abuse fall on women workers who hold lower positions than the men. Accordingly, such abuse has its roots in gender discriminatory practices.
Most of the women who visited the Hotline worked in small workplaces with no unions and faced difficulty in voicing their legal rights. Most women were also unaware of their legal rights and had visited the Hotline out of anger at the treatment they received at the hands of the company but not many cases were sent to the relevant authorities for review.
We believe that our legal rights can only be achieved if we actively fight to achieve them and we think that more aggressive counteraction must be taken to realize and reform equal employment as stipulated by law.