Freelance Producer for MinDeulle Wins Recognition as Employee and Victim of Unfair Dismissal

A video producer who worked exclusively on YouTube content for Citizen Press MinDeulle has won recognition as an employee rather than a nominal freelancer. The Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission also ruled that ending the contract amounted to unfair dismissal.

The producer, identified only as Worker A, signed a three-month agreement with MinDeulle in June last year and handled video production and editing. The work continued through verbal extensions without new paperwork. MinDeulle later cited the suspension of its YouTube operations and said it would pay wages only through March 5, with no further extension.

Worker A said the dismissal was unfair because the producer had expressed a willingness to continue working. MinDeulle argued that the agreement outsourced work under a freelance arrangement and that it did not supervise the producer’s actual work. The commission rejected that argument, saying employment status must depend on the substance of the working relationship, not the contract’s formal label.

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Worker A should be regarded as an employee under the Labor Standards Act, and the termination of this contract resulted from dismissal. As there was no valid reason or procedure for the dismissal, it was unfair.

The commission also rejected the claim that working mainly from home disproved employee status. Other MinDeulle reporters likewise worked without fixed commuting requirements. It found that the contract’s ban on hiring a third party to perform the work showed the producer’s exclusive relationship with the organization.

The commission said MinDeulle had not provided specific evidence to support its claim that Worker A worked independently without exclusivity. It concluded that a three-month extension had already occurred implicitly, making the later termination an unfair dismissal. The decision ordered compensation for wages lost during the remaining contract period and became final on the 24th after MinDeulle did not request a review. Labor consultant Ha Eun-seong, who represented the producer, said the ruling was the first to limit the force of the contract while expressly stating an employer’s active burden of proof.

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A ruling that limits the force of the contract and sets out the employer’s active burden of proof is unprecedented.