Extreme damage to small business owners and self-employed persons
“Compensation for loss, not support for betting”
Group members, such as the People’s Hope Headquarters of the Participation Solidarity and the Federation of Korean Small and Medium Business Owners, are holding a press conference in front of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 5th, prior to a request for a constitutional petition to restrict business operations for Corona 19. Newsis
Han Mo, who has been running a pub in Mapo-gu, Seoul for 5 years, has a monthly sales of 1.18,200 won in December last year. It is only 2.8% of sales in December 2019, a year ago, compared to KRW 57,993,700 per month. This is because of the’tweezer prevention’ measures that only allowed packaging and delivery from 9 p.m. when customers start to get crowded. Han, who could not stand, filed a constitutional petition against the Seoul city on the 5th, saying, “I was infringed on the exercise of property rights due to quarantine measures, but it was unconstitutional to receive no compensation.”
In order to prevent the third pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), high-intensity quarantine measures have been taken since December of last year. Accordingly, as the damage to small business owners and self-employed people becomes severe, there is a growing voice that the state should compensate for losses resulting from quarantine. This means that as the loss was endured for the public benefit of prohibiting the spread of infection, it was necessary to give a’proper compensation’ rather than a’sacrifice support fund’. The government has expressed confusion for reasons such as budget, but it is argued that the prohibition of gathering without compensation is unconstitutional because it is an excessive violation of basic rights.
Compensation regulations not only in the infectious disease prevention method
According to the legal community on the 13th, the number of lawsuits against collective ban measures is decreasing. Han and PC cafe business owner Kim Mo filed a constitutional petition for the Seoul City’s “Notification of Group Restrictions and Prohibition Measures,” and on that day, 203 business owners who operate gyms, bowling alleys, and billiards also filed a lawsuit for damages of 1.15 billion won. On the 14th, cafe operators are also scheduled to file a civil suit. It is argued that the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act, which stipulates prohibition of gathering and measures to restrict gathering, is unconstitutional and illegal.
The legal profession is focusing more on constitutional appeals than on damages litigation. It is unclear whether a lawsuit for damages will be won because the government’s quarantine measures must be negligent or illegal. However, the constitutional petition on whether to restrict basic rights is different.
Article 23, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution stipulates that’acceptance, use, or restriction of property rights due to public necessity and compensation for such property shall be made by law, but fair compensation shall be paid.’ This means that even if it is a legitimate exercise of public power, the state must compensate if any losses are incurred. In accordance with this principle, the Livestock Infectious Disease Prevention Act and the Basic Civil Defense Act have regulations on compensation for damage from killing or civil defense training. There is no choice but to say why there is no way to prevent infectious diseases. A judge of the Seoul Central District Court also pointed out that “there are only medical institutions in the method for preventing infectious diseases,” and “There is a possibility that the constitution may judge it as a legislative omission.”
Rep. Jo Jung-hoon “Too passive in the Ministry of Information”
The National Assembly is not unaware of this problem. Eight amendments to the Infectious Disease Prevention Act have been proposed that include small business owners and small and medium-sized enterprises as compensation payment targets. However, the screening was sluggish. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and the Ministry of Legislation are consistently negative. The government argues that it is difficult to calculate the size of the loss, and that it is expensive and can be compensated through support.
However, there is also a strong criticism that the state responsibility is handed over to the self-employed to save money. “There is a Supreme Court precedent that compensation for damages due to business interruption is △net profit when the business is not stopped △fixed cost (rental),” said Rep. Cho Jung-hoon, “based on the data from the National Tax Service, it is possible to calculate the amount of compensation.” did. Rep. Cho pointed out that “the Ministry of Information and Communications is too passive in order not to set a precedent in that it is the first case in which extensive business restrictions have been implemented.”
Criticism is also fierce for the claim that a certain amount of compensation has been made with three disaster subsidies. Only 1.5 million won is the subsidy that a business owner in a group restricted business can receive as a new desired fund (secondary disaster support fund) for small businesses. Although the amount itself is small, people like Han, whose sales last year were around 400 million won, cannot even receive this money. Ha Jun-kyung, professor of economics at Hanyang University, pointed out, “There is a recurring exhausting controversy over whether it is selection or individual support, and it is necessary to make clear rules that allow compensation to be received in proportion to the scale of the damage.”
“Let’s make a reward system”
As the backlash from self-employed people spreads, the ruling Democratic Party, along with the ruling Democratic Party, detects a forward-looking air. On the 11th, Kim Tae-nyeon, head of the hospital, mentioned’compensation’ for the first time, saying, “We will review the establishment of an institutional plan to compensate and support business losses for small business owners and self-employed persons.” Rep. Kang Hoon-sik also suggested that the compensation amount be calculated based on the minimum wage for the limited hours of operation, and that the financial resources of about 7.8 trillion won should be provided. Rep. Kim Doo-gwan, a senior member of the ruling party, and Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myeong, also publicly mentioned the loss compensation issue.
Democratic Party Policy Committee Chairman Hong Ik-pyo said on the day, “We have been discussing with the fiscal authorities whether we should provide financial support for business restricted or banned business from a considerable period before.”
Yu Hwan-gu reporter [email protected]
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