[News Today] BACKPAY FOR COVID-19 WORKERS

[LEAD]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some medical staff had to work at residential treatment centers for days and night shits. It was belatedly found that the nurses had filed a complaint for not receiving proper wages. Let's find out the facts in our next story.

[REPORT]
Nurse A was sent to a residential treatment center in Gyeonggi-do Province in 2021 during the pandemic and worked there for about ten months. She worked in three shifts and her working hours were fixed.

Nurse/ (VOICE MODIFIED)
I worked the set work schedule at the same fixed time.

She was paid in accordance with the comprehensive wage system as instructed by the central accident management headquarters' guidelines.

The comprehensive wage system includes overtime or off-day extra pay when exact work hours are hard to calculate.

Nurse/ (VOICE MODIFIED)
When I asked them to give me extra pay, they answered that it's not for Gyeonggi-do Province to decide.

In another case, six nurses who had worked in shifts at a district residential treatment center in Seoul filed a petition for unpaid wages two years ago.

The Employment Ministry's local employment and labor office in Seoul told the district to pay them 99 million won or around 71,600 U.S. dollars in back pay in April 2023 and the district paid them the overdue wages.

But when the same petition was filed recently by the nurses in Cheonan, the Cheonan employment office rejected the petition, saying that it doesn't count as delayed wages.

A series of lawsuits could follow if similar issues are raised nationwide.

Kang Myoung-gu/ Nat'l Policy Committee (PPP)
Some 300,000 medical workers were dispatched during COVID-19. If the court determines their cases individually, it could cause confusion and chaos.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare in charge of the matter is waiting for the courts' decisions.

If the court recognizes back pay, the workers' delayed wages must be paid by individual local governments, which could spark another controversy.