The Gender Ministry on Monday announced plans to “better treat” government-certified ‘care helpers’ for young children.  

The announcement comes months after a Gwangju court ruled earlier this year that such individuals should be legally recognized as “laborers,” meaning they are entitled to paid leave and overtime pay, among other benefits.

The court ordered that the government affiliated agencies must pay a total of 169 care helpers, all based in Gwangju, their overdue paid leave. The court confirmed that the workers were never paid for their paid leave for the last three years, as they were not legally considered as workers by the state-run agencies.

The overdue payments are worth some 400 million won ($359,600).

South Korea’s Labor Standard Act currently guarantees annual paid leave as all workers’ rights. The Ministry of Gender and Equality, which has been in charge of the program, has been reluctant to recognize the helpers as laborers, who are legally entitled to severance pay, overtime pay and paid leave. The ministry has never clearly shared its reasons. 

“We thought it would’ve been inappropriate to comment on the case before the court announces its orders,” the Gender Equality Ministry said in a statement on Monday. “We plan to announce a set of plans to better treat care helpers later this year.”

As one of its policies to tackle poor work and life balance among young parents, and eventually to boost the country’s low birthrate, the Korean government in 2007 first introduced a program featuring “care helpers,” those who are trained by the government to care for children aged 12 or under at their homes when their parents are not around. There are currently some 60,000 care helpers nationwide.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)