The Korea Certified Labor Society is considering the introduction of a 'Certified Professional Labor Consultant' system to officially certify expertise in areas such as work injury compensation, human resources/labor management, and labor unions. While labor tasks are becoming increasingly specialized and demand is rising, there is currently no official system to certify expertise in specific fields, leading to limitations in objectively demonstrating such qualifications.
According to the labor consultant industry on the 27th, the Korea Certified Labor Society has been conducting a public opinion survey from the 16th to the 29th among all members regarding the introduction of a 'Certified Professional Field' system for certified labor consultants. The society has prepared a plan to officially certify specialized fields and make them publicly available through its website, referencing the professional lawyer certification system for attorneys.
The operational plan proposed by the Korea Certified Labor Society includes 15 fields: industrial safety/work injury compensation, human resources/labor management, mediation/arbitration, unpaid wages/firing, public enterprises, hospitals/clinics, foreign-invested companies, construction industry, IT companies, labor unions/collective bargaining, wage management/payroll outsourcing, platform labor, major workplace accidents, foreign workers, and workplace harassment/sexual harassment.
To register in a specialized field, applicants must meet four requirements: at least three years of work experience since registration as a labor consultant, completion of at least 14 hours of recognized training within the past three years, fulfillment of field-specific performance criteria, and completion of additional mandatory education. Each labor consultant may register for up to three fields, with a registration fee of 200,000 won per field and a validity period of three years.
Performance standards for each field have also been established. For the human resources/labor management field, applicants must provide evidence of 30 cases each in general corporate HR/labor consulting and government employment support/grant consulting, as well as 20 cases each in revising personnel regulations and consulting on wage/evaluation/compensation system reforms. In the labor unions/collective bargaining field, standards include 10 cases each for collective bargaining/collective agreement consulting and responding to complaints regarding unfair labor practices, along with 30 cases of payroll management/four major insurance outsourcing.
However, concerns have been raised that judging expertise solely by the number of tasks performed is difficult due to differences in field-specific characteristics and complexity. Even for a single case, significant variations exist in time investment, contract value, and task difficulty, making it challenging to ensure fairness across certification requirements for different fields.
Another contentious issue is how to objectively verify performance records. Since labor consultants' consulting services are often based on private contracts, there is a need to specify criteria for recognizing case lists and supporting documents. The Korea Certified Labor Society has stipulated that professional field registration may be revoked if false documentation or similar issues are discovered.
The Korea Certified Labor Society plans to gather opinions through this public consultation on all aspects of the system's operation, including certification requirements per field, registration fees, and evaluation methods, before finalizing detailed criteria. Subsequently, it will proceed with applications for professional field registration and convene an evaluation committee.
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