Raising Queer Workers' Rights in South Korea

[Forum on LGBTQ labor rights and workplace harassment]

LGBTQ people have the right to work as themselves!

Many LGBTQ people in Korea are placed in an environment where they cannot reveal themselves in the workplace and work as themselves. This is because when your LGBTQ identity is disclosed, you may experience harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

The Act on Anti-Harassment in the Workplace has been enforced since July 2019, but there is no way to know what the remedy procedure is and whether it is available to LGBTQ people.

Therefore, Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea held a forum to share the workplace experiences and needs of LGBTQ workers and discuss how to respond together to the workplace harassment issue of LGBTQ workers.

The panel consisted of activists from labor organizations and trade union, who discussed general remedies and limitations of the current legislation on anti-harassment in the workplace, and the impact of workplace harassment on mental health. We discussed cases of LGBTQ workers responding to harassment in the workplace and the role of labor unions in such process.  

It was a forum in which various assignments were presented regarding the issue of LGBTQ workers and harassment in the workplace. Though we just started to talk about this issue, there were many participants from various fields, and everyone were enthusiastically participated in the discussion. Thanks to this event, we were able to identify what kinds of works we need to do for LGBTQ workers in Korea to work as themselves in the inclusive workplace.

People living with HIV/AIDS also have jobs and live in society as workers. Why was it so hard to imagine such an obvious fact? In the fourth event, we looked at the logic behind workplace discrimination that exclude people living with HIV/AIDS from the workplace and talked about their working reality of them. In addition, we listened to the worries and concerns of HIV/AIDS human rights activists who engage in labor rights activities for people living with HIV/AIDS and talked about what we need to do to create a workplace for both seronegative and seropositive people.

 In the event, Kwon Mi-ran, an HIV/AIDS activist who presented how the activism had been responding to actual cases of workplace discrimination, found hope in that more and more people spoke out when they face workplace discrimination due to their seropositive status. Without their courage, it was impossible for the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to recommend a correction of employers' acts of discrimination or improve the related system. Still, in many cases, employers mobilized the stigma of the disease to pressure the worker who spoke out, and it was difficult for the worker to endure a hostile atmosphere as long as the infection was immediately known. However, in the event, we found how people who spoke out with courage have changed the workplace and the need for continuous interest and solidarity in the right to work of people living with HIV/AIDS.

What we discussed

            - Legal and institutional prohibition and limitation of people living with HIV/AIDS’s freedom of job choice in Korean society

           - People living with HIV/AIDS's experiences of discrimination and unequal treatment in the workplace due to the stigma against HIV/AIDS and sexuality

          - What is needed to ensure equal labor rights for people living with HIV/AIDS