New guidelines will allow employers to automatically form employment contracts based on the information they posted on online recruitment platforms, which they and employees can sign electronically via smartphones, tablets, or PCs. (image credit: Kobiz Media/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – With the Ministry of Employment & Labor (MEL) announcing its new “Guidelines to Revitalize Electronic Employment Contracts” on Wednesday, employment contracts made on computers, tablets, and smartphones will now be recognized as official, just like traditional paper contracts.
Although an employment contract is an essential part of employment that guarantees worker rights and prevents future conflicts, only 59.3 percent of business establishments in Korea were found to be offering the contracts, said the ministry.
However, the new guidelines will allow employers to automatically form employment contracts based on the information they posted on online recruitment platforms, which they and employees can sign electronically via smartphones, tablets, or PCs.
This makes the preparation, storage, and verification of the contracts much more convenient, and allows them to be reprinted at any time or place. The new guidelines are also expected to help part-timers who tend to change jobs more often.
Furthermore, the guidelines confirm the legal validity of an electronic contract, and provide other instructions on concluding contracts, and their issue and storage.
Employers must now send contracts to their employees via email or as hard copies to make sure their workers understand their terms of employment. The contracts must also be kept for a minimum of three years upon their termination.
Wednesday’s announcement was attended by various economic organizations, major businesses, and officials from job recruitment platforms, who all vowed to partake in the campaign to promote workplaces for youth that abide by the basic labor laws.
“We’ll be actively promoting the use of electronic employment contracts so that anybody, anywhere, can simply use smartphones to sign their contracts,” said minister Lee Gi-kwon from the MEL.
By Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
