企業倒産과 賃金債權의 保護 - 倒産節次에서 賃金債權의 辨濟順位를 중심으로 -

Abstract

In order to consider how workers’ wage claims are protected when a company goes bankrupt, the present study analyzed the order of priority of claim for the payment of wages in the bankrupt procedure under the Consolidated Insolvency Act(Act on Rehabilitation and Bankrupt of Debtors) based on the peculiarity of wage claims. According to the results of this study, the current law has structural limitations in achieving the objectives of bankrupt procedure and protecting workers’ wage claims at the same time. Accordingly, with regard to the order of priority of claim for the payment of wages including workers’ wages, it is necessary to establish a law integrating the Labor Standards Act as a substantive law and the Consolidated Insolvency Act as a procedural law. In the legislation, however, adjustments should be made so that the original function of bankrupt procedure may not be disrupted by workers’ wage claims with the right to obtain preferential satisfaction, which may cause the shortage of bankrupt estate to be allotted to general creditors in the bankrupt procedure. First, improvement should be made to resolve conflicts among Article 473-2 “Claims for Taxes, etc.” of the Consolidated Insolvency Act, Article 473-10 “Claims for Payment of Wages” of the same law, and Article 38-2 of the Labor Standards Act. Second, improvement should be made in relevant laws and regulations through close examination of issues such as: “Whether, in case bankrupt estate is not sufficient, persons possessing the right of separation(Article 411 of he Consolidated Insolvency Act) can be excluded by asserting the right to obtain most preferential satisfaction for wage claims based on the legislation purpose of Article 38-2 ‘Wage Claims with Right to Obtain Most Preferential Satisfaction’ of the Labor Standards Act”; and “How priority among foundation credits should be decided in case bankrupt estate is not sufficient for paying the whole amount of foundation credits.”