[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] One in three office workers surveyed reported not receiving proper compensation for overtime work.
On the 29th, the civic group Workplace Bullying 119 announced that a survey conducted from the 7th to the 14th of last month with 1,000 office workers found that 32.0% of respondents said they do not receive wages for overtime hours such as extended, holiday, or night work. Those who said they receive wages for overtime hours accounted for 46.9%, and 21.1% reported having no overtime hours.
Among office workers, 38.6% said they do not receive proper overtime pay. The same response rates were 22.9% for production workers and 28.5% for service workers.
By position, middle managers (39.4%) and staff workers (36.8%) reported not receiving proper overtime pay more than senior managers (22.0%) or general employees (26.0%).
Among office workers who said they do not receive proper overtime pay, 34.7% reported being subject to the 'comprehensive wage system.' Cases where payment is not made due to customary practice accounted for 29.4%, and cases where a limit on additional wage amounts was set accounted for 19.4%.
The comprehensive wage system refers to a wage payment contract where the monthly salary or daily wage is set as a total amount including allowances for overtime work without separately calculating the base wage in advance, or a fixed amount is paid monthly as such allowances.
The comprehensive wage system is a wage payment method formed by precedent rather than based on the Labor Standards Act. According to Supreme Court precedents and administrative interpretations by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, even if a comprehensive wage contract is made, if working hours can be calculated, the principle of wage payment according to working hours under the Labor Standards Act must be observed. 70.9% of respondents agreed with banning the comprehensive wage system, while only 29.1% disagreed.
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