▲ This photo, provided by POSCO, shows workers producing steel at its factory in Pohang, 272 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

court-subcontract workers

Top court recognizes POSCO's former subcontract workers as direct employees

SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a ruling that ordered steelmaker POSCO to grant the status of direct employees to 55 of its former subcontract workers.

A total of 59 workers of POSCO's subcontractors filed suits in 2011 and 2016, demanding the company recognize them as direct employees as they worked for it for more than two years.

The lower court dismissed the suits, saying it cannot be said that they worked under the direction and order of the company.

The appeals court reversed the ruling, recognizing the plaintiffs were dispatched workers who received POSCO's instructions, albeit indirectly.

The Supreme Court upheld the appeals court's decision for 55 of the plaintiffs for the same reason but rejected the suits by the other four people who have already passed the retirement age.

The 59 people worked at POSCO's steel mill in Gwangyang, about 420 kilometers south of Seoul.

Of them, 57 worked there for more than two years. By law, a company should grant the direct employee status if dispatched workers have worked for more than two years for the company.

The other two claimed they were put into jobs other than the ones they were supposed to do when initially dispatched.

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