Legal Disputes Over 'Tada'... Drivers File Criminal Complaints Against Lee Jae-woong and Park Jae-wook (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Ahead of the scheduled suspension of the Tada Basic service at midnight on the 11th, Tada drivers are filing a complaint against former Socar CEO Lee Jae-woong with the prosecution.

According to the Tada Emergency Response Committee on the 8th, the drivers plan to submit a complaint against former Socar CEO Lee Jae-woong and current CEO Park Jae-wook to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on the morning of the 9th. The charges are violations of the Dispatch Act and the Labor Standards Act.

Previously, former CEO Lee announced that the Tada Basic service would only be provided until the 10th, leaving Tada drivers suddenly unemployed. To survive, the drivers launched the Emergency Response Committee, which currently has about 270 members.

According to the committee, the complaint includes the claim that people contracted as dispatched workers cannot be dispatched to the transportation business, but Tada violated this. Tada drivers are divided into dispatched workers employed by dispatch companies and freelancers (individual business owners). Article 2 of the Enforcement Decree of the Dispatch Act includes "driving work in passenger car transportation business under the Passenger Transport Service Act" as a prohibited work for dispatched workers. This means that workers dispatched through staffing agencies cannot be directly commanded or supervised to perform automobile transportation business.

The committee also plans to file charges for violations of the Labor Standards Act, alleging that Tada conducted "illegal labor supervision" over freelance drivers. Kim Tae-hwan, chairman of the committee, stated, "Tada claims it did not conduct illegal labor supervision, but through the driver application (app), they penalize drivers who leave the waiting area and announced that drivers with a customer rating below 4.5 will not be assigned rides."

The Tada Emergency Response Committee is also proceeding with a civil lawsuit regarding the "recognition of worker status." They believe that if many drivers participate, the chances of winning a class-action lawsuit are high and are encouraging participation. The complaint related to this is planned to be submitted on the 27th.

The committee stated, "Since drivers are also workers, they should receive severance pay, suspension allowances, annual leave allowances, and weekly holiday allowances, but these have not been properly paid."

The reason Tada drivers went as far as filing a complaint with the prosecution was due to the company's "lack of communication" attitude. When the committee was launched, they presented demands including ▲ immediate withdrawal of the suspension of the Tada Basic service ▲ recognition of all drivers' worker status ▲ preparation of livelihood measures for drivers through negotiations with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and requested meetings with CEO Park, but no significant progress has been reported.