Confirmed Departure Around 8 PM on the 15th
Seoul City Holds Meeting with Officials on the 24th
Less than a month after the pilot project for Filipino domestic workers began, two domestic workers have left their duties, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it plans to improve the payment method to a weekly wage system to alleviate the presumed cause of their departure, "financial hardship."
According to Seoul City on the 23rd, as of that day, two out of 100 Filipino domestic workers have left their accommodations and are unreachable. The service provider confirmed through CCTV that the domestic workers left around 8 p.m. on the 15th, and Seoul City and the Ministry of Employment and Labor were notified of this on the 19th.
The city and the Ministry of Employment and Labor are contacting various parties, including the parents of the domestic workers in the Philippines, to facilitate their return, but they have not yet come back. If a worker is absent for more than five business days or their whereabouts are unknown, the relevant labor office must be notified of the departure according to applicable laws, and within one month, the worker may be subject to forced deportation or classified as an illegal resident.
The cause of the workers’ departure is pointed to the non-payment of allowances under the monthly salary system. Since the salary payment date in the employment contract is the 20th of each month, wages for work performed from the 3rd of this month are paid the following month, and domestic workers who only received training allowances have reported financial difficulties. According to Seoul City, the allowance paid for training received by domestic workers from the 6th of last month to the 2nd of this month was 2,011,440 KRW, from which 539,700 KRW was deducted for accommodation and taxes, resulting in a net amount of 1,471,740 KRW. The workers received this amount in three installments on the 30th of last month, and the 6th and 20th of this month.
Seoul City announced that it will work with the Ministry of Employment and Labor to improve the payment method from a monthly salary system to a weekly wage system to resolve the domestic workers’ financial hardships and create a smoother working environment. Additionally, on the 24th, a meeting involving domestic workers, service providers, and others will be held to listen to field opinions and prepare improvement measures.
Furthermore, to prevent additional departures, Seoul City sent individual letters to the domestic workers on the 19th. In the letter, the city stated, "We hope that the pilot project will be successfully operated and lead to a full-scale project, thereby extending your employment period and providing many opportunities for those who wish to come to the Republic of Korea after you," and provided information on counseling channels.
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