Labor ministry sets withdrawal-reporting rule for joint welfare funds

The labor ministry said it had revised rules for joint employee welfare funds, requiring joint fund corporations to report a participating employer's withdrawal to the labor minister within three weeks of the withdrawal date. The amendment took effect Aug. 25.

The change follows a revision to the enforcement decree for the Framework Act on Workers' Welfare, which requires joint fund corporations to file the reports when participating employers leave. The ministry said the revised rule sets the reporting form and method delegated by the decree.

Fund corporations must submit the new withdrawal-report form to the head of the local employment and labor office, along with welfare fund council minutes on the employer's withdrawal, documents showing why the employer left and an inventory of assets distributed to it.

Amended templates will show whether an employer leaving a joint fund will establish an in-house employee welfare fund. The amended template must list all participating employers and record employers that joined or left the fund, as well as business closures, during the accounting year. Participation and withdrawal dates must be recorded as the dates of welfare fund council resolutions, while closures must be recorded by their business-closure dates.