Most of the complaints filed with the Ministry of Employment and Labor during the last month of the revised Labor Standards Act, which prohibit workplace harassment, were verbal abuse.

According to the Ministry of Labor today, 379 cases of workplace harassment complaints were filed between the 16th and 16th of this month when the revised Labor Standards Act went into effect.

On average, 16.5 work days were worked.

In case of bullying complaints at work, 152 complaints pertaining to verbal abuse were the highest, accounting for 40.1%.

Unfair business orders and wrongful personnel (28.2%) followed by gossip and bullying (11.9%).

Cases of no work (3.4%), discrimination (2.4%), coercion (2.4%), assault (1.3%) and surveillance (0.5%) were also received.

The Ministry of Labor explained, "there were relatively few serious workplace harassment cases leading up to assault."

By workplace size, the number of complaints filed by workers in workplaces with less than 50 employees was 159 (42.0%).

Followed by workplaces with 300 or more employees (26.9%), 50-99 employees (17.7%), and 100-299 employees (13.4%).

The Ministry of Labor said, “There seems to be a relatively high rate of workplace harassment in small workplaces where systematic personnel management is difficult.”

The Ministry of Labor reports that large companies also have a lot of employees, causing a lot of workplace harassment.

By industry, 85 cases (22.4%) were filed at the manufacturing sites, followed by business services (14.0%) and health and social services (11.6%).

The business services sector had a very high rate considering the share of all employees (4.8%).

Business services include building management, cleaning, security and security services, and low-wage workers.

By workplace, Seoul (119 cases) and Gyeonggi (96 cases) accounted for 56.7%.

The ratio exceeds 44.5% of those employed in Seoul and Gyeonggi.

The Ministry of Labor said, “There seems to be a rapid spread of awareness of workplace harassment in metropolitan areas where public relations and education are relatively rapid.”