Like the Late Oh Yoanna Caster... "18% of Office Workers Have Experienced Illegal Freelancing"

Unable to Receive Labor Law Protection as a 'Nominal Freelancer'
"MBC Created an Extremely Competitive Employment Structure"

Recently, it was revealed that MBC weathercaster Oh Yoanna, who made an extreme choice amid allegations of workplace bullying, was a freelancer. Meanwhile, a survey found that 18% of office workers have experienced signing an 'illegal freelancer' contract. Illegal freelancer contracts are exploited as a means to evade labor law application.

Late Oh Yoanna, MBC Weather Caster. Photo by Oh Yoanna SNS capture

On the 2nd, Workplace Bullying 119 Online Union commissioned the polling agency Global Research to conduct a survey of 1,000 office workers from December 2 to 11 last year. The results showed that 27.4% of respondents had experience writing non-labor contracts such as freelancer, business consignment, delegation, service, or subcontract contracts instead of labor contracts during the job-seeking process. Among them, 44.9% answered that they were unaware that labor laws did not apply to them. Freelancers like Oh Yoanna are not considered workers under the Labor Standards Act and thus do not receive labor law protection, meaning they cannot even report workplace bullying. Furthermore, they are not entitled to minimum wage, the four major social insurances, allowances, annual leave, severance pay, dismissal protections, maternity leave, or parental leave.

Among respondents who had experience writing non-labor contracts, 6 out of 10 actually worked under the employer’s direction, similar to workers with labor contracts. Of the 274 respondents with non-labor contracts such as freelancers, 65.4% said they worked under the employer’s orders. Unlike workers under labor contracts, freelancers do not receive instructions or supervision from the employer who delegates the work. Workplace Bullying 119 Online Union stated, "When extrapolated to all office workers, 17.9% have signed 'illegal freelancer' contracts." These individuals worked as 'nominal freelancers' in the blind spots of labor law.

Among the 179 respondents who worked under 'illegal freelancer' contracts, 46.9% said they did not receive compensation for disadvantages caused by the lack of labor law application due to non-labor contracts, 43.0% said they had no experience of harm, and 10.1% said they were compensated. Additionally, 83.3% of office workers agreed with the legal amendment mandating all employees to have labor contracts, compulsory four major social insurances, and imposing the burden of proof on employers.

Workplace Bullying 119 Online Union stated, "The Science Weather Team in the MBC News Bureau, which includes the late weathercaster Oh Yoanna, consists entirely of freelancers who have not signed labor contracts with MBC." They added, "Broadcasting companies including MBC have created a freelancer employment structure where weathercasters compete fiercely, allowing only the strongest to survive." They criticized, "MBC did not prevent workplace bullying and has not even conducted a fact-finding investigation five months after the deceased took her own life." They demanded, "MBC must apologize and take responsibility for the unjust death of the late weathercaster Oh Yoanna, regardless of whether a labor contract was signed." They also called for "MBC to directly employ announcers and workers in the News Bureau weather team, who perform essential duties, as regular employees rather than freelancers."

The late weathercaster Oh Yoanna worked as an MBC weathercaster from May 2021 until her death in September last year. The Ministry of Employment and Labor has also sent an official letter guiding MBC to conduct an internal investigation related to the workplace bullying allegations.