On Jan. 1, the government established the Intern Guidelines to clamp down on companies exploiting young workers for little or no money. These guidelines were suggested by the government and the ruling Saenuri Party at the National Assembly. However, only days before they announced the implementation of the plan, congressman Kim Jang-sil of the ruling Saenuri Party hosted a party using university students working without pay. The work the students did was nothing related to their majors, and all they did was greet the participants and act as guides. The officials took an equivocal stance by claiming, “We do not know the details about the party.” Despite the fact that the government and the Saenuri Party established the guidelines, some have already shown an indifferent attitude toward the problem. Can passion pay be eradicated? The Argus looked into the problem and suggested solutions.

Why the Intern Guidelines were made

“Passion pay” refers to the practice of companies taking advantage of people’s passion to work as an excuse to pay them very little or even nothing. Especially in 2014, the term “passion pay” began to emerge due to news reported about famous fashion firms and social commerce industries taking advantage of passionate young workers and offering them work experience in exchange for little to no pay.
Generally, these kinds of bullying acts are rampant in international organizations and state institutions where students cannot easily get a chance to experience a particular job. This phenomenon is also conducted in social enterprises and human rights groups, which recruit interns with no pay or only provide the least amount possible to cover the intern's food and transportation expenses.
To solve the problem of passion pay, the government implemented the Intern Guidelines as of the first of January so that young people can receive what they deserve.

What are the Intern Guidelines?

What are the doubts about the Intern Guidelines?

Ineffective Guidelines
The initial problem with passion pay is mainly about wages. The owners of companies offer little or no pay to young job seekers desperate to find employment and gain work experience to brighten their job prospects. Through employing young workers as interns, firms enjoyed a cost savings effect. However, even though the wage problem is the main issue of passion pay, the Intern Guidelines do not provide any clear solutions to end the vicious cycle of abuse.

These guidelines suggest that if an intern is considered to be a worker, due to their level of employment or time on the job, the company should follow the Minimum Wages Act. At this point, the effectiveness of the guidelines seems very remote because the number of last year’s exposed cases violating the Minimum Wages Act were identified to be 919.

Also, the owners are just “recommended” to provide money for food and transportation expenses. Even if they do not, these guidelines do not have the force of law behind them. Based on the actual guidelines, without stringent rules regarding wages, which is one of the main reasons why passion pay should be eradicated from our society, it seems very hard to prove its effects.

Bad habits are not corrected
The Intern Guidelines were put into effect roughly a month ago, so it is too soon to say whether the guidelines are working or not. Therefore, The Argus interviewed a few young students who work as interns and found out not much has changed since the guidelines became operative.

“I heard that the guidelines were enacted, but there is nothing really going on. I still go home late from work,” said a student, surnamed Yu, who is working at a marketing company in Gangnam. She also bitterly mentioned that she has no choice since writing about additional job experience is important when applying for a job.

“Working overtime is not a usual thing, but I do not get paid for work. I just get food expenses,” said a student Sim Na-young. She works at a hospital as a dental technician intern. The student said that she did not expect payment because former interns were never paid, so it is like a custom that has spread throughout the medical society for interns and trainees.

Moreover, one of Yu’s managers said, “In reality, it is unlikely that any company will perfectly follow the guidelines.”

Rampant passion pay even exists in the National Assembly
The government vowed to take stern actions to root out employers’ intentional and habitual exploitation of young workers through the guidelines, but it turns out that they are ignoring the passion pay that is prevalent within the National Assembly. According to the National Assembly Intern Union, an organization that is striving to improve the working environment for interns and legislative assistants, There are about 1,000 workers who labor as interns and legislative assistants that are currently working at the National Assembly.

Some university student interns mentioned that they often work on the weekends with no pay. What these interns do is not that different from an aide of an assemblyman who handles legislation with expertise as well as examines, investigates and organizes audits. Although interns are given similar work, they suffer from low or nonexistent wages just because they are not formally employed.

Causes of the problems

Guidelines on paper only
Passion pay has been a problem for years, and young workers are still voicing their complaints. There has not been any clear resolution in the past. Only in 2014 were the voices raised from the public due to the drama “Misaeng”, which showed how non-regular workers are treated at work. In December 2014, the so-called “Jang Geu-rae Law” came out. It was meant to solve the unfair treatment of temporary position workers. The main point was to expand the contract period from two to four years for those workers who are over 35. Nevertheless, the comprehensive countermeasures for casual workers did not eradicate passion pay or provide tangible results.

Without clear ways to separate the subject of the regulation, the Intern Guideline that the government is emphasizing causes a concern of existing simply for appearances.

Lack of compulsion and legal force
The guidelines are strongly encouraged to be used but without coercion. Also, because they do not suggest a specific range of application standards, the guidelines might overlook some areas that should be thoroughly investigated.
For those young workers who are looking forward to getting formally recruited, it will be especially hard or even impossible for them to accuse their boss of exploiting their wages. According to student Yu, even if they are not seeking to become permanent workers, most interns would never think of voluntarily reporting any unfair treatment they receive.

Due to the lack of compulsion and legal force, it seems very hard for the Intern Guidelines to eliminate passion pay.
Lee John, a professor of HUFS Department of Law, said, “Because interns are vulnerable members of society, I am not sure if the government labor office will show an active move towards the injustice of the situation.”

Lack of government willpower
Since the government established the guidelines to eradicate passion pay, it should be a great role model. However, in politics, it is illegal to give out payments to university interns and legislative assistants. Each member of the legislative body can recruit interns, but official agents with contracts are subject to the Secretariat of the National Assembly. Under the existing law, each office of the legislative body can employ two salaried legislative assistants with no limits on unpaid assistants. The problem is that if each office pays young interns with their own money, they will be breaking the law, as it is illegal according to the Political Fund Law.

“Except for when employing the interns in institutional terms, it is violating the Labor Standards Act to not pay the workers who are voluntarily employed by each office,” said a policy director of the Youth Union. The guidelines were implemented by the government, but there is a contradiction in the law against the guidelines. The government’s willpower seems to be lacking to resolve the legal contradiction that hinders the eradication of passion pay in the political sphere.

What are the solutions?

Guidelines for handling actual problems
The ultimate goal was to solve the payment issue in passion pay. Aside from the ambiguous target of the guidelines, at least a minimum wage should be assured to young workers so that these interns are treated fairly during their several months of labor. There were many cases where companies watched for a chance to employ interns while balancing between labor and education.

In addition, to address the wage problem, it is necessary to figure out what exactly the interns’ assigned tasks are and if any complaints exist.

Reinforcement of the regulation
To effectively use the Intern Guidelines, the government should increase the number of labor supervisors. By doing so, the supervisors are required to form a better assessment of what is happening in the field to improve the working environments for young workers.

John Lee, a professor of HUFS Department of Law, said, “Right now, there are a very limited number of labor supervisors in our society, and they have so much work to do beyond thoroughly investigating interns’ unfair treatment. So, it is pivotal to take complementary measures both quantitatively and qualitatively in regards to labor supervisors.” Also, some experts mentioned that due to the limited enforcement, the guidelines only exist as a form of first aid. To eradicate passion pay, the guidelines should be legalized and enforced.

Exemplary action from the government
If the government is not abiding by the law, then companies will not take the guidelines seriously. Therefore, the government is asked to act as a role model so that the guidelines will not become a temporary measure that will only come and go. Since each office’s payment is different, the Secretariat of the National Assembly should research the actual conditions. The government itself should comply with the guidelines to create a strict atmosphere for companies to follow.

These days, for students seeking job opportunities, it seems like it is beyond our reach to keep our rights at work. But clearly, efforts should be rewarded whether the workers are permanent or temporary. Temporary workers are also engaged in providing benefits to companies. There should not be any owners exploiting the innocence and desire of young workers. To achieve a better working environment for youth, the government, firms and youth all have to put forth efforts into changing the world around them.