A foreign worker who took his life after returning to his home country after failing to receive unpaid wages

On July 15th, SBS reported through the 8 o'clock news that a Vietnamese man who was working in Korea, A, returned to his hometown two months ago and committed suicide.

In July of last year, he said that he suffered from the hardships of his living because he had not received any wages for several months, who had been working hard at an apartment construction site in Ulsan.

A, who worked to pay for living expenses for his wife at hometown and treatment for his lung disease, returned to Vietnam last May after pleading for 3 million won in overdue wages for nearly eight months.

However, A made an extreme choice in June after suffering from hardships and chronic diseases.

A total of 32 people were not paid at the site where A worked. The amount of unpaid wages is 17 million won. Of these, 29 are foreign workers.

Most of them are illegal immigrants, so there is no employment contract with the employer and it is difficult to report to the Ministry of Labor.

However, it is not a problem for illegal residents to report unpaid wages to the Ministry of Labor. In most cases, the Ministry of Labor does not notify the Immigration Office of foreign workers who complain of unpaid wages.

What is more problematic is the inconsistency of the 'daily labor register' at the construction site.

The construction site records the date and daily wage along with the personal information of the daily worker, but because of the status of illegal resident, the record of the foreign worker's work is not properly recorded in the daily labor register.

The Ministry of Labor says that when a report on unpaid wages is received, it checks labor register first, and if there is no record of foreign workers working, the labor register is sent back noting to organize the labor register first.

However, this does not mean that you will not be able to receive unpaid wages. Problems such as discrepancies in the records of the labor register can be helped by a labor attorney. Even illegal immigrants can file a complaint against their employer with the Labor Office.

You can also use the ‘simple loan payment’ system. It is a system in which the national pays workers part of their unpaid wages in advance and claims the right to indemnity from the employer. You can apply on the website of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service or by visiting in person. It takes about two months to receive unpaid wages through the simple loan payment system.

Reporter Hasung Song

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