Assembly passes bill on retirement age of 60

By Jun Ji-hye

The National Assembly passed a revision bill guaranteeing workers the right to retire at the age of 60 in a plenary session Tuesday, despite opposition from the business sector.

Among 197 lawmakers in attendance, 158 voted for the bill, while six were against it and 33 abstained.

The final passage came hours after the Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee unanimously agreed to revise the Employment Law in order to extend the retirement age to 60.

Under the revision, companies take legal responsibility to guarantee their workers’ retirement age at 60.

Enterprises and public institutes with more than 300 employees will be influenced by the new revision from January 2016, while the rest will be applied from January 2017.

Under the standing law, the age limit was stated as a recommendation.

Regarding the salary arrangement to be applied to expanding the age of retirement, members of the committee agreed on allowing the labor-management council of each company to autonomously adjust this. In the event of disputes, a labor relations board can intervene to resolve it, according to the revision.

Businesses have fiercely opposed this move along with a similar bill to designate “alternative holidays” to weekdays if a national holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday, saying, “It was overprotecting labor.”

The unicameral parliament also passed the tax bill, which exempt capital gains taxes over the next five years for those who buy a house smaller than 85 square meters or whose value is less than 600 million won in 2013.

Those who do so after April 1 when the measure was announced will garner the tax benefit.