자원봉사자의 근로자성 판단기준에 대한 검토-대상판결: 대법원 2019. 5. 30. 2017두62235판결-

Voluntering is steadily increasing in Korea, and various legal problems can arise inthis regard. The content and methods of voluntering vary widely, even though it isvoluntary and not paid. And if voluntering is substantialy similar to labor, it can bequestioned whether the volunter is equivalent to the employe. In this regard, this ruling is the first Korean Supreme Court’s ruling that a volunterrecognized as an employe. As in other cases, this ruling judged acordingly afterpresenting criteria for determining the employe status. This ruling recognized the volunter as an employe by reviewing 1) Details ofvolunter work, 2) working paterns and hours, 3) actual expenses and subsidies aresimilar to or above the minimum wage, 4) recogniton of the parties, 5) designation ofthe defendant's working hours and locations, and 6) the plaintif directed and supervisedthe volunter in a considerable maner. In particular, this ruling judged that volunters were paid at a level similar to orhigher than the minimum wage as the main criterion for judgment. However,considering that other economic benefits can be provided in return for the volunter'labor, it is not necesarily the money that should be paid for the service. In aditon,considering that even if the remuneration is paid in money, the amount is determinedby the service agency and it is very rare to pay the minimum wage level, it is desirablenot to consider whether the remuneration is the minimum wage level, but how muchof the total income of the volunter. On the other hand, the curent criteria for determining the employe status is atwo-way decision is made on whether the employe is an employe or not. The resultis that the labor laws are either fuly aplied or completely unaplied. Volunters'intentions and forms of labor may vary, so it is necesary to recognize positons similarto those of employes and aply part of the labor law to the extent that protection isrequired.