Emart appears to have discretionally changed the employment contract of the part-timer without obtaining the agreement of the worker concerned. The part-time worker did not know the changes in the employment contract.
The changed employment contract even plagiarized the digital signature of the part-timer. When a person changes the employment contract without the agreement of the worker concerned at his or her own discretion, he or she will be punished by imprisonment of up to to 5 years or by a fine not execeeding 10 million won(US$ 9,000) pursuant to Article 231(forgery and falsification of private documents) of the Criminal Act.
The Korea Daily Labor News on October 9 obtained a copy of discretionally changed employment contract from the Emart trade union. Emart trade union denounced Emart and called on the company to reveal the reasons of plagiarizing the digital signature of the part-timer and changing the employment contacts discretionally.
However, Emart denied the demand of its union as an accusation. Emart insisted that the employment contract was duly signed by the part-timer concerned, after listening the changes in the employment contract explained by the management.
A Ms. Kim Sun-ju(anonym), part-timer working at an Emart store had a shocking experience when she logged in the company's personnel information system in August this year. She found that the working hours and holiday schedule were included in her employment contract.
When she signed the employment contract in February this year, what was written in the employment contract was only 32.5 hours a week and work days and working hours will be arranged within 32.5 hours limit.
However, according to her work schedule found in the system, she starts the work at 10 in the morning and finishes the work at 4 in the afternoon. Even though Mondays and Tuesdays are off-days, the columns remained blank. She noticed that the employment contract was changed and she felt uncomfortable when she found out the plagiarism of her digital signature in the employment contract and that she was never informed of the change in advance by the company.
Emart trade union argues that Emart changed the employment contract without informing the worker in advance. According to Emart trade union, Emart employees log in the personnel information system with their IDs and passwords and press the button of 'agree' to change or renew the employment contract.
However, the company did not inform the part-timers of the changes in the employment contracts. Nevertheless the employment contracts were changed with the use of digital signatures of the part-time workers.
Emart denied the accusation raised by its union, and explained that it is not possible for the management to change the employment contract in the personnel information system without knowing the passwords of the employees.
Emart also insisted that they sent out an e-mail to the employees on August 5, informing that the company changed the employment contract form and asked them to confirm their employment contract by August 8. Store staff were instructed to inform the part-timers at the stores about the changed form of employment contract and asked them to confirm it.
Emart said, "Union's accusation is groundless and an excessive conjecture. We informed the part-timers about the changes in the employment contract in advance and the workers signed the employment form for themselves."
Why would it happen at Emart? According to the Act on the Protection of Fixed-term and Part-time Employees, when an employer makes an employment contract with a part-timer, working conditions such as contract period, working hours and rest hours, wages, holidays and leaves including work days and working hours of each work day must be written in the employment contract.
If a person fails to comply with the written statement on working conditions for the part-timers, a fine for negligence not exceeding 5 million won(US$ 4,500) per employee will be charged.
The employment contracts of part-timers at Emart do not specify work days and working hours of each work day, but only 32.5 hours of contract working hours a week.
As it is in violation of the 'part-timer protection' Act, Emart appears to have changed the employment contract for the part-timers. Emart employs 2,358 part-timers as of March this year and an aggregated fine for negligence will go up to 11.79 billion won(US$ 10.6 million).
reported by Ku Tae-woo
edited in English by Kim Sung-jin
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