Gyeonggi Province to Pay Disaster Allowance to Daily Construction Workers During Work Suspension Due to COVID-19 and Other Disasters

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 2nd that it has established the nation's first 'daily construction worker disaster allowance payment plan' and will begin implementation starting this August.

This project aims to address concerns about increased workplace safety risks, as daily construction workers' income is interrupted through no fault of their own when disasters occur, creating difficulties in maintaining their livelihoods and forcing workers to continue working despite safety concerns due to financial hardship.

Currently, work stoppages are permitted when disasters such as heat waves and heavy rain occur, but these are merely recommendations, resulting in limited actual implementation at construction sites.

In response, Gyeonggi Province's strategy is to secure both 'safety' and 'livelihood' by providing support so that daily construction workers, whose daily labor directly affects their survival, can guarantee a certain level of wages even when work is suspended due to disasters.

The target projects for this disaster allowance payment plan are civil and building construction projects commissioned by Gyeonggi Province, the Construction Division, and public institutions under the province such as Gyeonggi Housing & Urban Development Corporation (GH).

When daily construction workers who report to work on a given day at the relevant project are unable to work for the promised hours due to work suspension caused by COVID-19 spread, heat waves, heavy rain, etc. during their shift, the project will proceed with Gyeonggi Province compensating wages for the remaining hours of that day (up to a maximum of 8 hours per day).

The payment conditions are ①COVID-19 spread (when a site is closed due to infectious disease outbreak according to Article 2 of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Management Act), ②heat wave warnings (when daily maximum temperature of 35°C or higher is expected to continue for 2 or more days), ③heavy rain warnings (when rainfall of 90㎜ in 3 hours or 180㎜ in 12 hours is expected), when a construction supervisor (construction manager) suspends work.

For example, assuming a daily construction worker participating in construction work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on August 10th, if confirmed COVID-19 cases occur that day and the site is closed around 4 p.m. at the construction supervisor's discretion, resulting in work suspension, the plan is to pay the worker wages for the remaining 2 hours.

The province expects that approximately 35,000 people will benefit annually from this project, with the required annual budget estimated at approximately 1.7 billion won.
The necessary expenses are planned to be covered using bid discount margins, etc. Going forward, the province will undergo procedures including establishing specific guidelines and issuing directives, with full implementation beginning in August.

Lee Un-ju, head of the Fair Construction Policy Division at Gyeonggi Province, said, "Through the promotion of this disaster allowance payment, we will lay the foundation for maintaining the livelihoods and ensuring the safety of daily construction workers in the province," and added, "We will continue to make active efforts to create a safe and fair construction labor environment."