By Yi Whan-woo
A suit was filed against the government Monday on behalf of 5,000 police officers to claim overtime pay they say is owed to them.
Superintendent Oh Seung-wook, a police officer in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, is asking for financial compensation for himself and colleagues for working on national holidays during the last three years. The Ministry of Public Administration and Safety that overseas the police does not allow police officers to receive overtime payment when they work on national holidays, a policy that Oh strongly objects to.
“The policy is ‘unfair’ as a number of law-enforcement officials have to work on those supposedly ‘non-working’ days. And we deserve extra payment for serving the people without taking a rest,” he said. Police officers across the country serve more than the legal 40 hours per week, and are denied overtime pay.
Oh said he decided to pursue the case after firefighters won a similar suit in 2009. He filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court in March with a claim that the regulation on police wages is “irrational.”
The superintendent mobilized his colleagues via an online forum. Each of the 5,000 officers will ask for 1 million won ($910) in compensation.