1인 자영업자의 산재보험 의무적용에 관한 시론적 고찰

Currently, the personal application criterion for industrial accident insurance are divided into three categories: compulsory application, compulsory application + application exclusion, and voluntary application. Compulsory application applies to workers, compulsory application + application exclusion applies to self-employed worker(Person in Special Types of Employment), and voluntary application applies to solo self-employed excluding self-employed worker and SMEs with fewer than 300 employees. In particular, since 2000, the scope of application for single-person self-employed has been continuously expanded, but with the revision of the 2020 law, industrial accident insurance can be applied to all solo self-employed regardless of business type. Nevertheless, the voluntary application method of recognition of industrial accident insurance qualifications is acting as a fundamental limit to the incentives for self-employed to subscribe to industrial accident insurance, and in fact coverage rate is very low. When considering the legal fact that self-employed worker can be applied insurance in a way compulsory application + application exclusion, if a solo self-employed has a risk of higher level compared to self-employed worker, it will be possible to enter into an insurance contract in a compulsory manner. Therefore, there must be a special degree of risk for the compulsory application to the solo self-employed. Under the premise of this hypothesis, the risk structure applied to the contractual relationship under the Occupational Safety and Health Act among self-employed engaged in hazardous work can be a direct factor in causing special harmful risks. Therefore, ‘the method of applying industrial accident insurance as a matter of course to the self-employed who is engaged in special hazardous or dangerous work’ was proposed. However, there has been no case of special legal protection in the form of compulsory insurance from the point of view of the Social Insurance Act for the self-employed in Korea so far. Therefore, additionally comparative research methodology was performed. Cases of Germany and Switzerland were reviewed as major target countries. However, there is no legislative basis specifically linking the special regulation on the contractual relationship to the application of industrial accident insurance. Yet, Germany and Switzerland recognized the need for special protection against hazardous and dangerous work. Although there were differences in specific industrial accident insurance relations by country, it was confirmed that the legislation was implemented in a relaxed manner that basically minimizes the gap with compulsory insurance and takes into account the unique characteristics of the self-employed.