Court Rules: Adjunct Professors' Working Hours Extend Beyond the Classroom

Adjunct Professor Wins Partial Severance Pay After 18 Years of Teaching
Gwangju District Court: "Working Hours Should Include Non-Lecture Duties"
Court Recognizes Working Hours Beyond Lectures
Labor Rights of Adjunct Professors Highlighted

The court has ruled that universities must recognize the working hours of adjunct professors as three times their lecture hours. This decision is based on the idea that time spent on lecture preparation and academic administration should also be included as working hours.

Gwangju District Court. Photo by Song Bohyun

On the 20th, Chief Judge Chae Seungwon of the Gwangju District Court Civil Division 1 announced a partial ruling in favor of former university adjunct professor A in a wage lawsuit against the state, ordering, "The state must pay A 45 million won."

A worked as a full-time adjunct professor at Chonnam National University from 2002 to 2020 and filed a civil lawsuit, claiming that he had not received proper severance pay, annual leave allowance, and weekly holiday allowance. In response, the state argued, "A is an ultra-short-term worker and is not eligible for severance pay," and filed a counterclaim demanding the return of part of the severance pay already paid.

The key issue was whether A qualified as an ultra-short-term worker, defined as someone whose average prescribed working hours over four weeks is less than 15 hours. Each semester, A was responsible for teaching 3 to 12 hours per week.

The court stated, "A significant amount of time is spent on lecture preparation and academic administration," and ruled, "The working hours of adjunct professors should be recognized as three times their weekly lecture hours, taking into account non-lecture duties." The court further explained, "It is reasonable to view that there was an implicit agreement between the university and the adjunct professor to include non-lecture duties in the prescribed working hours."