On the 10th, Rep. Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party proposed a bill at the National Assembly press room titled the "Ban on Punishing Workers for Refusing Illegal or Unjust Work Orders." The proposal garnered attention, especially with McDonald's part-time workers joining the advocacy efforts.
The bill seeks to amend the Labor Standards Act to explicitly state that workers cannot be disadvantaged or punished for refusing illegal or unjust work orders. Violators of this provision would be subject to penalties.
Rep. Yong explained that workers often face unlawful or unreasonable work orders and are compelled to comply due to the fear of disciplinary actions or other negative consequences. She cited several examples to illustrate her point, including the incident at McDonald's where workers were penalized for being ordered to manipulate product expiration dates, while only the part-time workers faced severe punishment. Other examples included workers at webhard companies who were collectively laid off for opposing the distribution of pornography and a young intern at Korea Investment Corporation who tragically took their own life under the pressure of unlawful work demands. Rep. Yong emphasized that business owners should bear the responsibility for imposing unjust orders.
Shin Jeong-woong, the chairman of the McDonald's Workers’ Union, also added his voice to the issue. During a parliamentary audit, he criticized McDonald's for continuing to impose severe penalties on part-time workers, even after CEO Antony Martinez had acknowledged that such tasks, like changing expiration date stickers, were inappropriate for part-time employees.
Rep. Yong's proposed amendment includes provisions that would prohibit employers from punishing workers for refusing unlawful or unfair work orders. Violations would result in penalties of up to two years in prison or fines of up to 20 million KRW.
The press conference was supported by multiple lawmakers, including Kim Nam-kook, Kim Jung-ho, Nam In-soon, and Oh Young-hwan (all from the Democratic Party), Kang Eun-mi, Ryu Ho-jung, and Bae Jin-gyo (from the Justice Party), Park Dae-su (from the People Power Party), and Kang Min-jeong (from the Open Democratic Party).
