Reconstructing the Constitutional Concept of Labourers in Modern Society

This study explores the necessity and direction for the reconstruction of the constitutional concept of workers in light of changes in the contemporary labour environment. The emergence of diverse forms of labour that transcend the traditional “blue-collar” worker calls for a reassessment of the concept of workers as defined by labour law. However, the Korean Constitutional Court bases its definition of constitutional workers on labour law, while the legislature has been reluctant to amend the provisions defining workers for decades. In this context, courts attempt to include various forms of labour by expanding the interpretation of existing legal definitions. However, such judicial interpretations seem insufficient to keep pace with changes in the labour environment, complicating the law’s consistency, thereby increasing the complexity and placing an undue political burden on the judiciary. Based on this analysis, this study emphasizes that the primary responsibility for encompassing new labour realities through legal amendments lies with the legislature, advocating the necessity to reset the constitutional concept of labour as a basis for legislation and a standard for constitutional review in the post-remedial process. To this end, this research reinterprets Hugo Sinzheimer’s concept of labour constitution in a contemporary context and derives indicators for a new concept of workers that surpass dependency theory, aiming to provide a legal foundation that can flexibly and resiliently respond to the complexities of the labour environment. This study proposes setting the concept of workers as a higher-order concept and, based on this, suggests ways to diversify the concept of labourers and labour laws at the legal level. Traditional labour relations will be covered by the regulation of existing labour laws, while emerging grey areas will be encompassed through individual labour laws. Such an approach to diversified individual labour laws ensures that the constitutionally granted labour rights and the diversity and specificity of labour relations are harmoniously reflected, ultimately guaranteeing an equal level of protection for all workers.