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Wage Discrimination Based on Gender at "B" Electronics Company [2007] KRNHRC 20 (1 January 2007)

Nine female workers including "Kim," who worked in the assembly line at "B"
Electronics Company, filed a complaint, alleging that they faced wage discrimination on
the grounds of gender. They said that female workers received lower wages than male
workers, even though they did the same job with male workers.
After investigation, the Commission found that the production department of "B"
Electronics Company was responsible for assembling, inspection, and packaging of
products, and allocated one worker to each process such as parts testing or soldering in the
assembly line. It also confirmed that there were no regulations specifying that only one
gender should be responsible for a specific process. Also, it found that there was no task
fixed to each individual worker, and tasks were flexibly allocated to workers, according to
production rate, defect rate, or vacancy, regardless of gender or employment type.
"B" Electronics Company insisted that it gave higher wages to male employees who
were responsible for loading products to trucks, which required physical strength.
However, the Commission found out that products were loaded to trucks on an irregular
basis, between one and five times per week. It also confirmed that both male and female
workers in the assembly line were mobilized to load products to trucks. Therefore, the
Commission denied "B" Electronics Company's claim.
The Commission recommended "B" Electronics Company to pay compensation to the
complainants, on the following grounds: (1) both male and female employees working in
the assembly line of "B" Electronics Company were contract-based employees and there
was no major difference in job responsibility based on gender; (2) working conditions of
male and female workers were not fundamentally different, as both male and female
workers were allocated to the same assembly line and worked together as a group; (3) even
if male workers were fully responsible for lading, it was not reasonable to pay more for a
job that required only muscle strength than for assembling that required attention to details,
concentration, and experience.