Intensive Inspection On Actual Conditions Of Youth Labor

The Ministry of Labor (MOL) declared yesterday to intensively inspect till August 11th, whether the Labor Standard Act has been carried out properly in 330 businesses such as gas station, fast food stores, and coffee shops for which the youths under-18 are usually working.

This declaration has been made in response to the recent indication that the middle and high school students have increasingly been interested in the part time jobs, but both business owners and the students do not know enough about the rights and obligations related to the student labors.

The inspection will focus on cases that violate the Labor Standard Act such as failure to keep the documents like the extract and the copies of ones family register or a certificate of residence, a written consent by a person with parental authority or a guardian, night shift without permission from the local labor office (from 10 pm to 6 am), and refusal to pay minimum wage allowable by the law (1,678 won per hour, 90 percent of adult minimum wage).

If the owner does not take an amendment measure within 25 days after the illegal acts are disclosed, the owner will face a criminal charged.

According to the Labor Standard Act, the youths in the age of 15-17 can make a labor contract under the parents` consent, but they should receive the permission from the labor office for the night shift, and the working time is restricted to 7 hours per day (possible to extend an additional hour under the laborer`s consent.)

For the youths in the ages of 13-14, they should receive the employment permit from the local labor office in order to have a job. The job is restricted to the simple tasks that do not have an adverse effect on the obligatory education and their health.

An official of the MOL told that ``the illegal acts were revealed in 30 percent of inspected businesses last year. The youth should be aware that they are workers who are protected by the Labor Standard Act.``

kjs359@donga.com