The Supreme Court of South Korea in Seoul. Photo by Asia Today
July 16 (Asia Today) -- South Korea's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that POSCO must directly employ most of the subcontracted workers involved in two long-running lawsuits after finding that they had effectively worked under the steelmaker's direction.
The Supreme Court's Second Division upheld lower court rulings that partially favored 378 current and former employees of POSCO subcontractors at the company's Pohang and Gwangyang steel mills.
The rulings established POSCO's obligation to directly employ the workers, excluding those who had passed the mandatory retirement age and four employees of POSCO M-TECH who packaged cold-rolled steel products.
The workers filed the lawsuits arguing that although they were formally employed by outside contractors, they performed their jobs under POSCO's supervision and instructions.
