A court ruled Friday that GM Daewoo Auto and Technology should pay 2.9 billion won in “unpaid wages” to its employees. The amount accounted for 30 percent of what the workers sought to get.

According to the Seoul Central District Court, a total of 1,047 employees of the Korean unit of the American automaker, filed for court intervention after the company decided to set and pay wages on an annual basis in 2001 and 2002.

Under the new system, bonuses were paid differently on the basis of individual workers’ performance and some extra allowances were taken out of their pay. Both allowances and bonuses were paid at a fixed rate to all workers before the annual pay system was introduced.

The court said that the allowances including insurance and pension payments among others, should be included in the wages, explaining why the workers were entitled to 2.9 billion won.

Regarding the bonuses, however, the court said that they should not be considered as part of base wages so the company does not have to pay them.