The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Gangnam Branch Branch Court Panel Division.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

1. In cases where a plaintiff entrusted with the authority of the Minister of Employment and Labor under Article 27 of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act (amended by Act No. 13047, Jan. 20, 2015; hereinafter “Act”) and Article 24(2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act paid a substitute payment to a worker on behalf of the employer, he/she shall subrogate the relevant employer’s right to the wages, etc. to the extent of the amount paid (Article 8(1) of the Act). In such cases, the right to preferential payment recognized as a worker’s right to the wages

(2) Article 8(2) of the Act provides that in the case of a substitute payment on behalf of a creditor with an erroneous repayment of another person’s obligation and subrogated to a creditor, the obligee’s claim is legally transferred to the person performing the obligation (Article 482(1) of the Civil Act), and Article 8(2) of the Act provides that the same legal principle applies to the case where the Plaintiff paid a substitute payment to a worker with a wage claim with the highest priority payment right (see, e.g., Supreme Court Decisions 94Da21160, Feb. 23, 1996; 2008Da13623, Jan. 27, 201). In so doing, the Plaintiff who paid a substitute payment to an employee with the highest priority payment right may receive a substitute payment in preference to other creditors in the same order as where the subrogation claim is recognized.

Therefore, in the event that the plaintiff pays some of the wages and retirement allowances which the plaintiff has the right of priority repayment to a certain employee as a substitute payment, and acts in subrogation of the worker's wages and other claims, the claims subrogated by the plaintiff shall be apportioned in the same order as those of other workers who have no right of priority repayment, and the plaintiff's subrogated claims merely have the nature of public interest for the stabilization of workers' livelihood, and shall be subordinate to those of other workers who have not received the substitute payment.