[Plaintiff, Appellant] Agricultural Development Corporation (농업진흥공사), Attorney Lee Kyung-ho, counsel for the Plaintiff
[Defendant, Appellee] Chairman of the National Labor Relations Commission (중앙노동위원회)
[Prior Judgment] Seoul High Court Decision 82Gu149, rendered August 10, 1982
[Order]
The appeal is dismissed.
The costs of the appeal shall be borne by the Plaintiff.
[Reasoning]
The Court examines the grounds of appeal submitted by the Plaintiff's attorney.
Point 1,
Article 90 of the Labor Standards Act (근로기준법) does not provide that decisions on examination or mediation under Article 88 and Article 89 of the same Act shall be directly subject to litigation, and in light of the fact that it provides that a civil action may be filed regardless of the content of such examination or mediation, a decision by the Labor Relations Commission (노동위원회) on examination or mediation regarding matters of disaster compensation under the Labor Standards Act must be regarded not as an administrative disposition but as merely an act of a recommendatory nature (see this Court's Decision 66Nu52, rendered June 21, 1966). The court below, in the same vein, held that the decision on such examination or mediation—apart from constituting a prerequisite for a civil action—should not be regarded as an administrative disposition producing legal effects on the rights and obligations of the persons concerned, and that the same reasoning applies equally to a decision rendered by the National Labor Relations Commission (중앙노동위원회) upon reexamination of a decision of a Regional Labor Relations Commission (지방노동위원회); accordingly, the court below dismissed as unlawful this action, which sought revocation on the premise that the decision of the National Labor Relations Commission was an administrative disposition. This measure by the court below is justly acceptable, and there is no illegality therein consisting of a misunderstanding of the legal nature of the National Labor Relations Commission as argued in the grounds of appeal.
The precedent cited in the grounds of appeal concerns a decision of the Labor Relations Commission regarding whether to pay a suspension allowance in a case where business is suspended due to a cause attributable to the employer, and is not applicable to the present case, which concerns a decision of the same Commission regarding disaster compensation.
Point 2,
According to Article 19-2 of the Labor Relations Commission Act (노동위원회법, Act No. 3352), as amended on December 31, 1980, an action against a ruling of the National Labor Relations Commission shall be filed against the Chairman of the National Labor Relations Commission as the defendant ... within 15 days. The filing of an action under this Act shall not stay the execution of the ruling. The above period is prescribed as a fixed period (불변기간). The above provision must be understood as a provision concerning the prerequisite for filing an administrative action against a disposition of the Labor Relations Commission that has the nature of an administrative disposition—such as the Labor Relations Commission's approval regarding the payment of an allowance during a period of business suspension under Article 38 of the Labor Standards Act, or the reexamination disposition of the National Labor Relations Commission revoking such approval—where the result of the disposition directly affects, as between the parties concerned, whether a claim for payment of the allowance arises. However, with respect to the claim for disaster compensation at issue in this case, no binding effect upon the parties has been given to the examination or mediation of the Labor Relations Commission; it is merely prescribed as a prerequisite for filing a civil action. Accordingly, the decision on examination and mediation rendered by the National Labor Relations Commission in this case does not constitute a subject of administrative litigation falling under Article 19-2 of the above Act. The judgment of the court below, being to the same effect, is justified, and the argument criticizing the judgment of the court below from a contrary view is without merit.
Point 3,
Even assuming that, as argued in the grounds of appeal, the court below treated the disposition in this case—which was not a disposition of a Regional Labor Relations Commission as prescribed in Article 19(1) of the Labor Relations Commission Act, but rather a disposition of the Minister of Labor—as identical to a disposition of a Regional Labor Relations Commission, this may present a point of dispute as to whether the bereaved family of the deceased Kim Seung-hee went through the lawful preliminary procedure when filing the civil action for disaster compensation; however, insofar as the Defendant's disposition in this case is not an administrative disposition subject to an appeal litigation (항고소송), such a ground cannot constitute a legitimate ground for appeal. All the arguments are without merit.
Therefore, the appeal is dismissed, and the costs of the appeal shall be borne by the losing party. This judgment is rendered as stated in the Order, by the unanimous opinion of the participating Justices.
Justices: Kang Woo-young (Presiding Justice), Kim Joong-seo, Lee Jung-woo, Shin Jung-cheol