Human Rights Commissioner: "Freelancers Must Be Protected from Workplace Harassment"

"Fundamental Rights of All Working People"

Chairman Ahn Chang-ho of the National Human Rights Commission promised to devise various ways to protect human dignity in the workplace in relation to the death of the late Oh Yoanna, an MBC weathercaster.

Yonhap News

In a statement on the 10th, Chairman Ahn said, "The dignity of all working people is a fundamental right that must be guaranteed during the process of providing labor," and added, "We will devise various methods to ensure that people who provide labor, such as freelancers, but do not receive legal protection against workplace harassment, can maintain their dignity at work."

He emphasized, "Among non-regular workers at terrestrial broadcasters, freelancers account for 2,953 out of 9,199, which is 32.1%, and among announcers, the proportion of freelancers reaches 92.9%. In reality, the majority of freelancers are in poor conditions such as low wages and insufficient social safety nets."

He further explained, "Freelancers are legally treated not as workers but as individual business operators, so they are not protected by various labor laws such as the Labor Standards Act. As a result, when they experience harassment in the workplace, they often suffer because there is no channel to raise the issue."

Chairman Ahn also added, "The International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention broadly defines the scope of protection from 'violence and harassment' as a universal human rights issue, so that all people working in the workplace can be protected."