The Supreme Court recently rendered a significant decision in a case concerning discrimination issues. In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s judgment that contract workers who were deemed to have entered into indefinite-term employment contracts (“Indefinite-Term Contract Employees”) were not subjected to discriminatory treatment compared to regular employees.

In this case, the plaintiffs argued that working terms and conditions applicable to regular employees should also be equally applied to Indefinite-Term Contract Employees, pursuant to the Act on the Protection, etc., of Fixed-Term and Part-Time Employees.

On behalf of the defendant, we countered that even if the plaintiffs were Indefinite-Term Contract Employees, they could not be subject to the same working terms and conditions as regular employees unless they performed work at the same level as regular employees.

The Supreme Court has previously held that, unless otherwise stipulated, the rules of employment and other employment regulations applicable to regular employees must be equally applied to Indefinite-Term Contract Employees who engage in the same or similar work (Supreme Court Decision 2015Da254873, December 24, 2019).

Notwithstanding such precedents, we argued before the Court that (i) the perfunctory provisions of the rules of employment cannot be applied to Indefinite-Term Contract Employees without any special justification, and (ii) Indefinite-Term Contract Employees cannot be regarded as employees engaged in the same or similar work as regular employees, particularly considering aspects such as recruitment qualifications and procedures, as well as the quantity and quality of work. The Supreme Court recognized our argument, affirming the lower court’s decision that there was no discrimination against the Indefinite-Term Contract Employees in terms of working conditions, such as promotion and wages.

This Supreme Court decision is significant because it requires contract workers to prove not only that their work is of the same or similar value as that of regular employees, but also that they actually performed the same or similar duties in specific positions held by regular employees in order to claim wages equivalent to those of regular employees in those specific positions.

In this regard, companies facing disputes over discrimination issues involving Indefinite-Term Contract Employees should proactively and thoroughly review the implications of this decision.