A labor inspector in her 40s was found dead late last month. Critics say structurally excessive workloads drove the inspector to an extreme situation. Within the Ministry of Employment and Labor, voices are pouring out demanding a change to a situation in which labor inspectors, who protect workers, fail to have their own working conditions protected.
According to the ministry's public officials' workplace council and others on Tuesday, a female labor inspector in her 40s, identified as A, who had worked at a labor branch office in Gangwon Province, was found dead late last month. Police found no evidence of foul play in A's death.
Within the ministry, employees could not hide their sense of emptiness, saying they had lost another colleague following the 2023 death of labor inspector B at the Cheonan branch office. B, who had been appointed only three months earlier, was found dead after being tormented by malicious complaints. The malicious complainant was sentenced to two years in prison at the first trial. The workplace council and fellow employees said, "(A) was a mother of two, with a bright personality and a strong sense of responsibility," adding, "She recently said she was suffering from insomnia due to her heavy workload, so those around her were very worried." Posts mourning A, a mother of two, continue to appear on the ministry's internal employee network.
Over A's death, criticism and concern are pouring in within the ministry that it was a tragedy born of the steadily worsening working environment for labor inspectors. Labor inspectors have long been exposed to malicious complaints. In 2023, verbal abuse, assault, and repeated complaints against ministry employees totaled 3,116 cases, up 28% from 2022. A council official expressed frustration, saying, "There are cases where some 300 complaints are piled onto a single labor inspector," adding, "When people are unhappy with the outcome of a case, it can even turn into demands to punish the inspector."
The strengthening of labor rights, a key policy task of the Lee Jae-myung administration, has also doubled the case burden on labor inspectors. This year, the ministry's labor inspection target is about 90,000 workplaces, nearly double last year's 52,000. Measures to cut workplace deaths and wage arrears have also been significantly strengthened. Labor inspectors are conducting full investigations of workplaces reported for wage arrears and shortening the investigation periods for workplaces suspected of violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. Under the revised Trade Union Act, which took effect in March this year, managing labor-management relations at workplaces has also become a core duty of labor inspectors.
The work that troubles labor inspectors most is "workplace harassment" cases. Workplace harassment reports, which numbered 2,130 in 2019, soared roughly sixfold over five years to 12,253 in 2024. Workplace harassment is legally difficult to prove, and unlike other cases, perpetrators tend to strongly deny the allegations. The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) technology has also become a new burden for labor inspectors. One ministry employee said, "During in-person investigations, complainants often present ChatGPT search results and repeatedly point out that 'the inspector seems to be wrong,'" adding, "Because inspectors must remain neutral during the investigation stage, it is difficult to rebut or respond to each point."
Criticism from the field is also intense over the "inspection team system," which was introduced as a pilot project under a previous administration and fully implemented early this year. Moving away from the previous method of distributing all cases to individual labor inspectors, the ministry restored a team system in which inspectors form teams to jointly take responsibility for cases by region. Some assess that this reduces gaps in workplace management caused by frequent changes of inspectors and improves management expertise. At the same time, concerns that excessive work is placed on team leaders have become reality. A, who died, had also served as a team leader at the branch office. Another ministry employee pointed out, "It's a structure where the team leader ends up taking on even the cases that team members raise their hands and say they cannot handle," adding, "Handling one's own work, the role of team leader, and team members' unresolved cases at the same time is virtually impossible."
Given this situation, even when administrative results are achieved, the mood within the field organization is far from cheerful. In the first quarter of this year, workplace accident deaths totaled 113, the lowest level since statistics began to be compiled in 2022. Wage arrears, which had been on the rise since 2022, also turned downward early this year. A council official expressed frustration, saying, "Inspection administration that protects workplace safety and reduces wage arrears is our core mission," but added, "Even a simple verbal instruction at the headquarters (ministry) level comes back to the field as a 'typhoon' of surging work."
