Ministry of Employment and Labor: ”The late Oh Yo-anna was bullied,” but ”she was not a worker under the Labor Standards Act” (South Korea)

In relation to allegations of workplace bullying against the late MBC weather anchor Oh Yo-anna, who died last year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has concluded that there were acts that could be considered bullying.
However, the court found it difficult to recognize him as a worker under the Labor Standards Act, meaning that the Labor Standards Act's provisions regarding workplace bullying do not apply.
On the 19th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the results of a special labor inspection of MBC, stating, "We have determined that bullying occurred against the deceased.
" After joining the company in 2021, Oh said he had received guidance and advice from his seniors on the job, but that he had repeatedly engaged in actions that were difficult to recognize as necessary for work in light of social norms, according to the employment and labor law firm.
Specifically, the deceased was a new member of society who had been working as a weather forecaster for less than 1-3 years, and the deceased continued to make unnecessary remarks based on personal feelings that went beyond the necessity of work.
△There was a large emotional gap between seniors and juniors regarding guidance and advice, △The deceased complained about his mental anguish mainly to acquaintances and detailed details of the anguish were included in his suicide note.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said that this was the result of comprehensive consideration. When the deceased appeared on "Yoo Quiz," a senior weather anchor openly asked, "What can you talk about on Yoo Quiz?"
However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has not revealed whether the bullying was perpetrated by one person or multiple people.
However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor determined that it would be difficult for Oh to be recognized as a worker under the Labor Standards Act.
Apart from their appearances on TV shows, MBC employees did not perform other duties such as administrative duties, on-call duties, or events, which are normally performed by MBC employees. Some of the anchors signed exclusive contracts with outside production companies or participated in entertainment projects.
The weather forecaster is a member of an entertainment company, and is free to appear on other broadcasts and engage in other commercial activities, with all income going to the weather forecaster.
The weather forecasters carried out their work autonomously and with considerable discretion without specific instructions or supervision, △ they were not subject to work regulations or service rules and had no set times to come and go, △ they had no separate rules for working hours,
The reason was that the weather anchor paid the cost of her costume for the broadcast directly to the coordinator without going through the leave procedure.
The Labor Standards Act (Article 76-2) does not apply to Oh-san's case. The Ministry of Employment and Labor also said that in addition to Oh-san, the news and current affairs bureau's staff, including the weather forecaster,
The agency said it had investigated whether 35 freelancers were employees and found that 25 were confirmed as employees.
Although the company signed a contract with C, the main PD provided specific and continuous direction and supervision in the personnel management process, and the company performed its work constantly and continuously with regular employees.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to issue corrective instructions to these individuals to sign labor contracts that do not worsen their current working conditions, and to inspect their compliance.