체당금 지급대상인 근로자 권익 보호를 위한 임금채권보장법 개정 방향

Under the wage claim guarantee system of Korea, the state provided substitute payment to retired workers who had not received wages by their employer due to bankruptcy. However, the introduction of the micro substitute payment system on July 1, 2015 enabled the state to provide unpaid wages within a certain amount on behalf of employers, irrespective of whether or not bankruptcy was filed. Accordingly, a local employment and labor office handles the issuance of the employer’s certificate and the processing of substitute payment request, while the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service (“COMWEL”) handles the processing of micro substitute payment request. However, the emergence of the need for additional investigations to determine micro substitute payment and the rise in the number of administrative adjudication petitions filed by workers dissatisfied with COMWEL’s decision on denial of payment, the substitute payment system as prescribed under the Wage Claim Guarantee Act (hereinafter “Act”) came to be operated by three administrative agencies: local employment and labor office, COMWEL, and the Central Administrative Appeals Commission (“CAAC”). This paper: (i) examines how the current substitute payment system operates and relevant issues; and (ii) explores the revision direction of the Act as a means to protect the rights and interests of substitute payment recipients.