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Top court upholds ruling ordering Posco to directly hire 200 subcontract workers

Published: 16 Apr. 2026, 13:59

Logo of steelmaker Posco [JOONGANG ILBO]

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a ruling that ordered steelmaker Posco to directly hire over 200 subcontract workers who had worked for the company for more than two years.

In 2017, a total of 223 subcontractors at Posco's steel mills in Pohang, North Gyeongsang and Gwangyang, South Jeolla, filed lawsuits, demanding that they be directly hired by the company, citing their length of service.

The top court upheld the appeals court's ruling that recognized cases brought by 215 of the plaintiffs, but rejected the suits of seven steel coil packaging workers and another worker who had reached retirement age.

By law, a company should directly hire dispatched workers who have worked for it for more than two years.

The court determined the seven workers were not substantively incorporated into the company's operations.

Posco has faced a series of lawsuits from subcontract workers who have demanded that they be directly hired. In 2022, the top court upheld a ruling that recognized 55 subcontract workers should be directly hired by the company.

Yonhap