Some Korean employers reluctant to offer severance pay and national pension



When Elmer De Vera found out last month that his employer had given pay raises to his Korean colleagues despite freezing his pay for the past four years, he blamed discrimination against his nationality.


“They (employers) don’t follow rules. I found it out only last month when I compared my salary slip with my coworkers. My salary has been the same for the past four years,” said the Filipino employee at a local cement company. He is scheduled to leave Korea in June as his visa expires.


De Vera was among the several Filipino workers that The Korea Herald interviewed Sunday at a help center for foreign workers in Hyehwa-dong, Seoul.


They said many of their compatriots are vulnerable to discrimination by their Korean employers here, despite years of efforts by the Korean government to provide legal support to foreign migrant workers and equal social insurance benefits under the Employment Permit System since 2004.


As of last year, Korea employed more than 278,000 foreign workers from 15 countries under the EPS program, including 24,000 from the Philippines.


But discrimination still prevails at many workplaces; in most cases, it concerns money issues such as salary, severance pay and national pension.

“Foreign workers often have problems with their bosses over severance pay or national pension as some companies are not willing to give them,” said another Filipino who identified himself as Richard.


He said he works at a local car accessories company.


All companies in Korea are required to provide severance pay to foreign employees at the end of their employment.


But Richard said some of his friends had to wait one or two years to receive it, even after they moved to other companies or went back to the Philippines.


“Usually almost 80 percent of foreign workers don’t speak Korean so they are disadvantaged in receiving them,” he said.


In reality, most of them don’t dare to talk about it because they don’t want to ruin their relationship with the boss or are afraid of getting fired by bringing up the subject.


Most of the Filipino workers who attended the weekly onsite counseling session organized by the Seoul Global Center wanted to get updates on their severance pay and national pension.


“Many are interested in whether their bosses are paying severance pay and national pension for them,” said Ray Saulo, a Filipino volunteer at the counseling session.


There are some companies unable to pay severance because of financial problems, but some are just unwilling to pay the most basic benefits that workers anticipate to receive at the end of contract.


Kim Tae-kyun, who oversees the counseling session, said some company owners change their company names to avoid paying workers severance pay.


“We once helped a worker whose company owner changed the company name and filed a petition to the labor ministry. The worker received it from the successor to his former boss,” said Kim.


Besides the problems involved with payment, some face daunting challenges.


A Filipino worker named Brian who arrived in Korea six months ago said that his boss threatened to prevent him from changing his workplace if he did not pay for all the damage from a fire at the factory where he worked. Brian claimed that the fire broke out while he was sleeping there and he didn’t know how it started.


The Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea, advocating for the human rights of migrant workers in Korea, pointed out in its 2009 report that there is a huge gap between the contracts migrants sign with employers and the actual working conditions and welfare.

“When salaries are delayed or other benefits are not paid, we are concerned. Because we are workers who send money to our families,” said Richard.


By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)