A Study on the Working Reality and Treatment Improvement of Home Caregivers

This study investigates the underlying cause of the low wages of homecare workers: the unclear legal status of home care workers prevents them fromreceiving adequate protection under labor laws, including the Labor Standards Act. While the Supreme Court has recognized home care workers as employees, currentlaws do not allow for verification of their status as part-time workers, leaving them without adequate protection as part-time workers. Home care centers typically onlypay 1.5 times the base salary for holiday work, with no holiday or suspension pay. The unique nature of home care workers' workplaces makes the application of theLabor Standards Act and the Act on the Protection of Part-Time Workersambiguous, leaving workplaces open to arbitrary interpretation of labor laws. Toaddress this, the following improvements are necessary: The Labor Relations Actshould clearly re-establish whether special occupations such as home care workersare considered part-time workers, the Ministry of Employment and Labor shouldregularly conduct labor status surveys across home care centers, the “Notice onthe Method of Calculating Long-Term Care Benefit Costs” should be revised, whichcan lead to misunderstandings about holiday work allowances, and a legal basisshould be established to prevent home care workers from experiencing financialdifficulties and being unfairly dismissed due to suspension of work for reasons notattributable to them.