79% of Office Workers Support Introduction of "Presumptive Employee System" for Platform Workers and Freelancers

Workplace Gapjil 119 Surveyed 1,000 People

Majority of Supporters Want Application Starting from the Labor Office and Labor Relations Commission

As the number of workers in new forms of employment such as platform labor and freelancing continues to grow, a recent survey found that 8 out of 10 office workers support the introduction of the "presumptive employee system."

The civic group Workplace Gapjil 119 commissioned a survey from the research firm Global Research, polling 1,000 office workers aged 19 and over nationwide between June 1 and June 7 on the necessity of introducing a presumptive employee system. On September 13, the group announced the results, showing that 79% of respondents were in favor of adopting the system.

A delivery rider is passing by on a street in Gangseo-gu, Seoul.

The presumptive employee system would require employers (companies) to bear the burden of proof regarding worker status. Accordingly, platform workers and freelancers would be presumed to be employees if certain conditions are met. The government and ruling party are currently seeking to legislate this system within the year.

Support for the introduction was nearly identical across different types of employment, with 78.8% of regular employees and 79.3% of non-regular employees answering that the system is necessary. Among the 790 respondents who agreed on the need for the system, 78.5% said it should be implemented from the early stages—at the Labor Office or Labor Relations Commission level—to ensure practical protection of rights, thus preferring the broadest possible application. Only 21.5% felt the measure should be introduced exclusively at the court litigation stage.

Workplace Gapjil 119 explained that there are quite a few workers who sign freelancer contracts but actually work just like regular employees. The group created an online checklist for "freelancer identification" in July last year, and 2,002 people used it over about a year. Of these, 70.9% (1,421 people) were categorized as "definitely employees," meaning there is a very high likelihood that they qualify as employees under the Labor Standards Act. Meanwhile, 19.7% (396 people) were found to have a "possible employee" status, and 9.24% (185 people) fell into the "uncertain employee" status category.

Workplace Gapjil 119 pointed out, "The courts' determination of employee status still primarily relies on a 2006 Supreme Court precedent, and thus fails to fully reflect the current reality in which work hours, workplaces, and work methods have become more flexible due to changes in industrial structure." The group emphasized, "In order for workers to be able to predict their legal status, the criteria for determination should be explicitly stipulated in the Labor Standards Act's definition of an employee."

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