Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission Recognizes Citizen Media Company PD Under Contractual Work Arrangement as a Worker

The Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission recognized a PD (producer-director) at a citizen media company as a worker under the Labor Standards Act, despite being under a contractual work arrangement and working remotely. The commission also determined that informing the PD of contract expiration after repeated three-month contracts constituted unfair dismissal.

According to the legal representative for the case on August 30, the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission decided on July 14 in favor of the unfair dismissal remedy application filed by PD A, who had been in charge of YouTube production and video editing at the citizen media outlet Mindeulle.

Mindeulle argued that it had entered into a work outsourcing contract with PD A, and that PD A performed work independently without the company's direction or supervision. The company cited the fact that PD A did not come to the office daily or stay on the premises and that no separate records of working hours were maintained.

However, the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission held that remote work alone cannot deny the status of a worker. The commission also considered that other workers at Mindeulle did not have fixed commuting schedules either.

The commission judged that although PD A had technically signed a work contract, in practice, services were provided under the direction and orders of the company, qualifying PD A as a worker.

A clause in the contract prohibiting the hiring of third parties to perform assigned work was also cited as grounds for recognizing worker status. The commission saw this as indicating an exclusive characteristic in the tasks performed by PD A.

The contract termination process was also problematic. PD A had worked under repeated three-month contracts, with verbal extensions. However, Mindeulle notified PD A in March that the contract would end due to suspension of the YouTube business. Subsequently, it was reported that the company changed the YouTube account password and terminated the payment for the video editing program.

The commission determined that, under civil law, the contract had been tacitly renewed, and that unilaterally terminating work during the contract period amounted to dismissal. Furthermore, since there was no proper cause for dismissal and the grounds and timing of the dismissal were not communicated in writing, the commission concluded that this was an unfair dismissal.

Ha Eunseong, the labor attorney who represented the case, commented on the decision, stating, "It is meaningful in that the judgment of worker status was based on the actual work relationship, rather than the formality of the work contract." Ha also noted the point that it is up to the employer to actively prove that the work was performed independently as stipulated in the contract.

PD A stated, "I filed the remedy application because I believe this is not just about resolving my personal issue," and added, "I hope this decision prompts citizen media organizations to reflect on internal labor issues as well."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.