The Supreme Court has ruled that part-time lecturers working at universities should have their preparation time counted as working hours, and the payment of allowances should be decided accordingly.
According to the legal community on the 12th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Kim Seon-su) partially overturned the lower court's ruling in a wage claim lawsuit filed by eight part-time lecturers against the state and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.
These individuals were non-full-time part-time lecturers working at national universities who filed the lawsuit in October 2020, arguing that the time spent preparing lectures and handling academic administration should be considered working hours. They claimed that their hourly lecture fees were set lower compared to full-time part-time lecturers and that they did not receive weekly holiday allowances or annual leave allowances, resulting in insufficient wages.
According to Article 18 of the Labor Standards Act, regulations regarding weekly holidays and annual leave do not apply to ultra-short-term workers who work less than 15 hours per week on average. Typically, university lecturers' working hours are limited to "lecture hours," which are often less than 15 hours, so they did not receive weekly holiday or annual leave allowances.
Previously, the first and second instance courts ruled that the university's discrimination between full-time and non-full-time lecturers was wrong and ordered the payment of the difference in lecture fees. However, claims related to allowances were dismissed.
However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, stating, "It is difficult to consider the weekly lecture hours as the plaintiffs' prescribed working hours, and it is hard to conclude that the plaintiffs fall under ultra-short-term workers." The Supreme Court pointed out that under the "commission contract" between the part-time lecturers and the university, lecturers are required to perform tasks other than teaching, and thus, work related to lectures should be included in working hours. Accordingly, the Supreme Court held that whether the part-time lecturers work 15 hours or more per week should be determined by including the time spent on lecture-related tasks.
With this ruling, part-time lecturers are expected to have the opportunity to receive weekly holiday and annual leave allowances from universities depending on the amount of lecture-related work they perform.
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