National Assembly Must Immediately Delay Serious Accidents Punishment Act for Workplaces Under 50 Employees
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Writer
CFE
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The Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which is imposing a severe burden across the business community, will begin to apply to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees starting on the 27th.
Companies that will newly come under the law are, quite literally, crying out in fear.
It is an act of economic self-harm for the Serious Accidents Punishment Act—hastily cobbled together in a desk-bound, out-of-touch manner divorced from realities on the ground—to crush even small businesses that have had no time to prepare.
If fear of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act constrains business activity and even leads to closures, the damage will be passed on in full to ordinary citizens.
Workers lose their jobs, opportunities for quality employment disappear as investment is withdrawn, and vigorous productive activity is blocked, weakening the people’s livelihood economy.
Consumer harm is also clear.
If compliance with the Serious Accidents Punishment Act raises various labor and management-supervision costs, it will ultimately lead to higher consumer prices.
Workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, which are smaller and more fragile in scale and management structure, will feel even greater cost pressure.
In the end, consumers are the ones to whom the burden is passed.
No one opposes preventing industrial accidents and protecting workers’ lives and safety.
However, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act raises fundamental doubts as to its propriety and effectiveness.
There is considerable harm in branding business owners and responsible managers as potential criminals and in stifling management through excessive punishment provisions.
It has long been argued in legal and business circles that the law is highly likely to violate the constitutional principle against excessive restriction.
With an outdated approach obsessed with “punishment solves everything,” both safety and the economy will be lost.
On the 16th, President Yoon Suk Yeol formally requested that application of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act to companies with fewer than 50 employees be deferred.
Despite calls from the government and the ruling party to defer and revise the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the opposition party continues to remain silent and feign ignorance.
The opposition cannot possibly be unaware of the reality that concerns over the Serious Accidents Punishment Act are erupting from both large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises alike.
The National Assembly must move to amend the law to defer application of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees.
It can convene a one-point session at any time and pursue a targeted legal revision.
This is purely a matter of political will.
In addition, regardless of the general election schedule, the National Assembly should convene the relevant standing committee and fully revise the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.
The Serious Accidents Punishment Act is eroding corporate capabilities and dampening entrepreneurship.
The National Assembly must fulfill its role so that the financial and administrative burdens of complying with the Serious Accidents Punishment Act no longer undermine industrial competitiveness.
2024. 1. 16.
Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)
Original title: 국회는 즉각 50인 미만 사업장 중대재해처벌법 적용을 유예하라
Author: Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)
Date: 2024-01-16
Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=comment&pn=2&idx=26393