<Abstract>

Employers’ Liability in Triangular Employment Relationships

Since 1998, temporary agency work has been legitimated under certain conditions by the Act on Protections for Temporary Agency Workers(APTAW) in Korea. The APTAW has no provisions about basic protections such as the right to collective bargaining. The Supreme Court also holds a negative view of a user enterprise being a party to a collective agreement because it maintains the position that a party to collective bargaining must first be a party to an employment contract. Based on these precedents, it is not allowed to exercise the collective rights in relation to user- employers or main contractors.

Since the real power in terms of finances and labour management lies with the user enterprise, the working conditions of triangular employment workers cannot be resolved unless user enterprises enter into collective bargaining. Moreover, in many cases user-employers infringe the right of collective labor law. Therefore it is necessary to treat the user-employer too as a party of unfair labor practice and industrial relations.

Key Words: triangular employment relationship, temporary agency work, employer, contract work, user-employer