It is very unusual for a company that operates digital platforms such as mobile apps to ask for “direct employment.” (image: National Association of Housekeepers)
SEOUL, Nov. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – For the first time since the Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1953, housekeepers will be classified as full-time employees.
The Ministry of Science and ICT created a committee to review new technologies and services Wednesday and decided on a total of six cases to pass as “regulatory sandboxes” for ICT.
A regulatory sandbox is a government program that eliminates or alleviates regulations on new products and services to grant domestic companies more freedom and less regulation.
The program included the approval of deregulation that Home Story Life, a platform company that provides home-based services, asked the government to directly hire housekeepers instead of “workers” under the current law.
The number of direct employees will be limited to 1,000, and the Labor Standards Act will apply to them.
“Directly employed housekeepers can choose the type of household services they provide within their working contracts, as well as the working hours and vacation periods,” the committee said.
Han Jung-hoon, CEO of Home Story Life, said, “The rights of household workers will be improved, and the provision of high-quality household chores to users will be expanded.”
It is very unusual for a company that operates digital platforms such as mobile apps to ask for “direct employment.”
“This is the first example of the importance of co-prosperity with labor suppliers at a time when platform labor is growing around the world, and that forms of employment can vary according to the needs of companies,” said an official at the Korea Startup Forum, which is a gathering of platform companies and others.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
