장애인 고용법제에 관한 소고(小考) - 장애인 고용의무제와 차별금지제를 중심으로 -

The number of people with disabilities is 2.49 million in Korea which is 4.9% of total population as of the end of 2014. Considering that more than 90% have acquired disabilities through traffic and industrial accidents and diseases, the employment law for disabled Persons takes an important position. The law aims to realize the right of labor and equal right of those who are with disabilities through their working lives that fit their ability and to help them live as human beings. In South Korea, There are two acts for the employment of the people with disabilities. One act is “Employment Act for the Disabled” enacted in 1990 focusing on the quota system for employment of the disabled and the other act is “Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Disabled Persons” in 2007. The quota system for the employment of the disabled which went through multiple revisions since its enactment in 1990 has achieved tangible results of expanded employment of the people with disabilities. However, there are problems as of 2014 that the number of workplace that have mandatory employment quota is only 7.8% of total population of the disabled, available jobs are only for those who are with light disabilities and the employment rate by large companies are too low. As the employment of those with disabilities is expected to worsen as the number of people with disabilities increases, the law and system needs to be revised. Therefore, this paper suggests measures of re-targeting the subject of employment quota to vocationally disabled people, increasing the mandatory employment ratio, strengthening the penalty for the business owners who do not meet the employment quota, supplementing indirect employment system in large companies to activate the employment of the disabled and enforcing support for vocational ability development for the disabled as ways to improve the quota system for employment of the disabled. As the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Disabled Persons has six areas of education, employment and provision and use of goods and services that bans discrimination, it gives unity to the system. However, there is a limit in discrimination of employment that requires flexible revision of laws according to the rapidly changing employment environment. Therefore, in a short term, it is necessary to enact a single act that bans discrimination of employment and expands the employment at the same time. It means adding employment part of the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Disabled Persons to the current Act for the Employment of the Disabled. In a long term, it would be possible to consider regulating through the form of Equality Employment Act to give unity to ban on discrimination by disability, gender, age, religion and form of employment which is currently being regulated by each relevant law. Besides, while the judgement whether there is discrimination on people with disability and the following corrective measures are given by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, the orders to correct and penalty is given by the Ministry of Justice. The channel should be unified to a quasi-judicial organization, the Labor Relations Commissions that has expertise in labor so that the commission gives order for the correction, compulsory performance fee and it should be systematically linked with the preemptive measure of right of supervision on employment discrimination by the Labor Administrative Office. In the long term, Labor court needs to be established that exclusively handles labor cases. However, even when the Labor court is established, adjustment by Labor Commission that reflects administrative relief procedure that has accessibility by victims, swiftness and reduced cost is necessary.