As the world becomes more globalized, many companies are facing challenges managing employees dispatched from overseas headquarters to local branches.

Unintended misunderstandings and mistakes can occur due to cultural and legal differences.

Especially with issues like workplace harassment rising to the fore, it's essential to have a clear understanding and response strategy.

 

Labor Law Firm SAERO offers specialized services to address these concerns, facilitating smooth onboarding for foreign employees. If local HR struggles or the company's response is inadequate, consider partnering with Labor Law Firm SAERO for better solutions.

 

 

1. Foreign Employee Onboarding Consultation Service

Labor Law Firm SAERO provides a tailored onboarding program for foreign executives and employees dispatched to local branches or hired in the country. The goal is to ensure these individuals understand Korean labor laws, organizational culture, and relevant HR regulations and act accordingly.

 

 

2. Why Specialized Onboarding for Foreign Employees?

Korea's workplace culture can be complex, and there are essential labor laws, including those about workplace harassment, that employees need to understand. Many foreign employees, familiar with their home country's laws and culture, may inadvertently violate local rules, posing legal risks to the company.

 

 

3. Common Session [1]: Basic Labor Regulations

After the conclusion of the employment contract, the following disputes related to labor laws and HR issues can arise between the company and the employees:

- Working hours
- Statutory leave/absences (annual leave, parental leave, etc.)
- Additional leaves/absences provided by the company (sick leave, compassionate leave, etc.)
- Wages
- Disciplinary reasons and procedures
- Resignation

Although most of these topics are covered in English employment contracts and English employment rules, unlike domestic employees who naturally understand local labor laws and organizational culture, expatriate employees dispatched from overseas may expect their conditions to be similar to those in their home countries without specific explanations.

In the event of a future dispute, the company could be accused of not communicating key issues. To prevent misunderstandings, it is essential to explain the company's operating procedures in advance clearly.

 

 

4. Common Session [2]: Sexual Harassment and Workplace Harassment

Sexual harassment prevention training in the workplace is a mandatory legal training that must be conducted annually for all employees. Recently, there has been a significant rise in workplace harassment issues, and as a result, many companies also conduct workplace harassment training.

Relying solely on formal online training makes it challenging to thoroughly understand the judgment criteria and essential points regarding sexual harassment and workplace harassment in Korea.

Especially concerning workplace harassment, while Korean employees are generally well-informed about what constitutes harassment through media, social networks, and conversations with acquaintances, foreign employees often find it difficult to anticipate when certain inappropriate behaviors might be classified as 'workplace harassment' by the law.

If sexual harassment or workplace harassment occurs, the company has several legal obligations, including conducting an investigation, protecting the victim, taking action against the perpetrator, and implementing post-incident measures. Moreover, if the victim claims compensation from the company (employer's liability), the company also bears civil liability.

Therefore, it is essential to provide effective sexual harassment and workplace harassment prevention training in advance, ensuring that foreign employees are also informed about relevant matters to prevent inappropriate behaviors.

 

 

5. Special Session for Managers: Preventing Potential Legal Risks

For foreign executives, department heads, team leaders, and other managers, they are individuals who perform duties with authority and responsibility delegated from the employer. If a manager violates the employer's obligations, both the employer and the manager may be held jointly responsible.

Below are cases where foreign managers, due to their lack of understanding of Korean labor laws, can inadvertently place the company at significant legal risk. Particularly, when executives or other managers exhibit the following inappropriate behaviors, the company's liability can be viewed as greater due to the authority and responsibility delegated to these managers.

 

(1) Risks related to labor commission cases such as unfair dismissal and unfair transfers:

- Carelessly use termination-related words like "fire" while reprimanding an employee (unfair dismissal, workplace harassment)

- Arbitrarily changing an employee's rank/position from team leader to team member (unfair transfer order, workplace harassment)

 

(2) Risks related to criminal penalties and fines for violating labor relations laws:

- Preventing the use of parental leave (violation of the Gender Equality Employment Act, workplace harassment)

- Excluding employees on parental leave or giving them excessive tasks and treating them unfairly (violation of the Gender Equality Employment Act, workplace harassment)

- Preventing the use of annual leave (violation of the Labor Standards Act concerning annual leave)

- Forcing the use of annual leave (violation of the Labor Standards Act concerning annual leave)

- Forcing overtime work (workplace harassment)

(3) Others, such as workplace harassment:

- Assigning personal errands or individual tasks (workplace harassment)

- Discriminatory treatment between team members (workplace harassment)

- Extreme micromanaging, such as demanding hourly reports from low performers (workplace harassment).
 

 

6. Onboarding Consultation Process:

(1) Kick-off Meeting (Company - Saero)
- Discussion on the company's overall HR operational methods
- Discussion on the information of employees targeted for onboarding

 

(2) Onboarding Session Execution (Saero → Employee)
- Explanation on the Labor Standards Act and company HR practices
- Conducting prevention education on workplace sexual harassment and other forms of harassment
- Education on communication methods reflecting the company's organizational culture
- Additional sessions conducted reflecting other requests from the company
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(3) Debriefing Meeting: Discussion on the queries and feedback from employees targeted for onboarding (Company - Saero)
- Compilation of the company's answers to the questions of employees targeted for onboarding
- Delivery of feedback from the onboarding target employees' session
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(4) Follow-up Procedures Post-Onboarding (Company/Saero → Employee)
- Explanation and communication to the employee, reflecting the content discussed in the Debriefing Meeting

 

 

For any questions, please contact us using 'CONTACT US' section at the bottom of our webpage or click on the image below to send an email directly to mihyun.kim@saerolabor.com.