South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that it is unreasonable for individual union members to bear the same responsibility as the labor group when a company has suffered damage due to an illegal union walk out.

The Supreme Court overturned the original ruling of a damage claim lawsuit filed by Hyundai Motor Co. against four members of its in-house subcontractor union and returned the case to the Busan High Court. The original ruling had ordered the defendants to jointly pay 2 billion won ($1.6 million) in damages.

“It is unlawful to hold individual union members equally responsible as the union,” the Supreme Court said, which indicates that more circumstances should be considered on the participation of an individual member in an illegal strike led by the union group.

The Supreme Court also noted that demanding individual union members to determine the legitimacy of the dispute actions may “undermine the right to collective bargaining for workers.”

The ruling backs the idea of limiting individual union members’ responsibility for damages, which is in line with the so-called yellow envelope bill, a revision in the labor law led by the opposition party.

The proposed amendment states that the scope of individual liability should be determined based on attributive reasons and contribution even if the court recognizes the union’s liability for damages.

The Supreme Court, in the meantime, destroyed the original ruling that ordered the Korean Metal Workers’ Union to pay 3.3 billion won and other damage compensations to the company in a suit filed by the automaker against the union group.

The Supreme Court acknowledged the damage responsibility of the union workers with regard to a strike against restructuring in 2009 but the ruling is intended to exclude the 1.88 billion won the company gave out to the returnees of the strike in December in the same year from compensation calculation.

The latest ruling will reduce the compensation amount by about 30 percent.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions welcomed the ruling, stating that the Supreme Court has confirmed “the legitimacy of the yellow envelope bill.”

Korea Employers Federation, on the other hand, argued that “it is practically impossible for employers to individually prove the individual attributive reasons of union members for damages caused by illegal actions.”

By Jeon Hyung-min, Chung Seung-hwan, and Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]