There was a news report that more than half of the foreign workers in South Korea are not aware of the fact that they can claim for the severance pay. Yes, Korean labor law recognizes severance pay. It is being regulated by the Guarantee of Workers’ Retirement Benefits Act(“GWRBA”). In this article, we will provide you a guide to the general ideas of how severance pay works, who gets it, and how much in Korea.
Tag: Korean Labor Law Firm
[Case Report] Chung & Partners Win for Seconded Employee’s Korean Severance Pay Entitlement
There are so many seconded workers in Korea. The secondment of an employee creates various legal issues in Korea. One of them is the seconded employee’s severance pay in Korea. The Korean labor law recognizes the severance payment liability of all employers having business in Korea. This doesn’t ask the nationality of the employee. (Please check here as to how the severance pay under Korean law is recognized and operates) The problem is that some foreign companies are ignorant of their severance pay liability under Korean law. Even further, some foreign employers try to evade their severance liability intentionally.
(more…)[Q&A: Labor Law] Is There a Legally Binding “40 Working Hour a Week Limit” in Korea?
Q) Please could you clean up this question that nobody seems to be willing to answer. Is there a legally binding 40 working hour a week or not in Korea?
A) Yes, there is a 40-work-hours clause in Korean labor law.
The Labor Standard Act of Korea provides that “Work hours shall not exceed 40 hours a week, excluding hours of recess”.
However, in case of workers who are not less than eighteen years of age and women workers who are not in pregnancy, an employer and a workers’ representative can legally agree to extend work hours in excess of 40 hours a week to the extent that (more…)
Severance Payment Plan & Retirement Pension Plan under Korean Labor Law, and Government’s Proposal to Amend Current Sevrance Payment System
Recently we got a question from a gentleman asking what the exact meaning of the below, an Internet post he’d found:
“It is possible that as of 2011, what was severance pay will be vested in the country’s pension plan. This means that workers (including teachers, etc.) will no longer receive one month’s pay for every year worked at the end of their contract. The legislation is set to discuss/vote on this in 2009.”
He was worrying that he might lose his right to severance payment under Korean law. But the above article is quite misleading. The severance payment is the property right of workers. It can not be vested to anything without workers’ consent. If the article says the amended law will give the employer or any party but the workers the power to vest the severance payment to the country’s pension plan (or whatever) without workers’ consents, it definitely violates (more…)