산업재해보상보험의 보호 대상으로서의 ʻ노무제공자ʼ

Abstract

Initially, workers' compensation insurance in Korea was established as a form of liability insurance for employers' responsibility for workers' compensation under the Labor Standards Act. As a result, historically, the insurance covered only employees falling under the ambit of the Labor Standards Act. However, the changing nature of labor provision methods and the need to expand the scope of coverage led to a gradual expansion of coverage. In 2008, a special type of worker was introduced to include some dependent contractors as beneficiaries of workers' compensation insurance. Nonetheless, the existing system's exemption provisions for special types of workers were subject to criticism, primarily for allowing exemption applications without limitations on reasons and for restricting the scope of protection due to the ‘exclusivity’ requirement. To address these issues, the Workers' Compensation Insurance Act underwent revisions in 2021 and 2022. The 2021 amendment addressed the problem of exemption applications by strictly limiting the reasons for which special types of workers could apply for exemption. Additionally, the 2022 amendment abolished the special type of worker exemption provision and completely eliminated the exemption application system for newly introduced ‘labor providers.’ Furthermore, the 2022 amendment addressed the issue of exclusivity by abolishing the ‘exclusivity’ requirement. Therefore, the 2022 amendment to the Workers' Compensation Act is considered a vital legislative measure that significantly enhances the comprehensiveness of workers' compensation insurance. This article explores the interpretation of the concept of ‘labor provider’ introduced by the 2022 amendment to the Workers' Compensation Act.