KOR
▲ Ministry of Employment and Labor
Individuals who filed false claims for unpaid wages, submitted fake employment contracts, or inflated the amount of unpaid wages to illegally obtain government wage payments have been caught in a special investigation by authorities.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on Friday (June 19) that it uncovered a total of 58 people involved in illegal benefit claims across six workplaces following a special investigation conducted from November last year to May of this year.
The total amount of illegally obtained funds is 423 million won.
The government wage payment system is a program where the state pays a certain range of unpaid wages to workers on behalf of employers, and subsequently seeks reimbursement from the employers.
Among the major cases, the representative of a primary construction contractor, Company A, colluded with subcontractors to falsely claim that the subcontractors' employees were actually employees of Company A, illegally receiving 122 million won in government wage payments.
The investigation revealed that the misappropriated funds were used to settle subcontracting fees or were returned by the employees.
The representative of a manufacturing firm, Company B, conspired with employees to file false complaints claiming that wages and severance pay were overdue, illegally obtaining 22.8 million won in government wage payments. They also attempted to illegally obtain an additional 20.8 million won.
The representative of Company C, a construction site cleaning business, colluded with a co-representative to file a false complaint as if they were employees who had not been paid, and attempted to receive 16.2 million won in government wage payments by submitting fake employment contracts and pay stubs before being caught.
They also attempted to obtain funds illegally by inflating the amount of unpaid wages.
The Ministry of Labor plans to conduct further special investigations in the second half of this year.
If illegal receipt is detected, the ministry plans to take strict measures, including criminal prosecution, recovery of the paid funds, and the imposition of additional penalties of up to five times the amount received.
Furthermore, when investigating cases involving reports of unpaid wages for 10 or more people, the ministry will require employers to submit a list of assets if government wage payments are expected to be requested. It will also pursue the recovery of reimbursements from employers who have failed to pay back the government.
In addition, the ministry has a policy to impose credit sanctions on employers who have large, long-term outstanding reimbursements.
Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon emphasized, "We must not allow the government wage payment system to be abused, which prevents workers who truly need help from receiving support," adding, "We will respond strictly to crimes that abuse the system, such as illegal benefit claims."
(Photo: Yonhap News TV, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
