Labor activists protest Supreme Court overtime ruling

A job notice is posted at an employment center in central Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

A recent Supreme Court ruling that allows employees to work overtime for as many hours as possible in a given day while remaining within the maximum 52-hour workweek has sparked protests from the labor sector.

The Supreme Court ruled, Monday, to overturn a lower court’s ruling to impose a fine on an aircraft cabin-cleaning company for violating the Labor Standards Act by making an employee work 15 hours a day, three times a week.

According to the ruling, work hours should be calculated per week, and an employee working a total of 45 hours per week remains within the country’s 52-hour workweek limit.

Korea currently adopts a 52-hour workweek system under the Labor Standards Act, which stipulates that work hours cannot exceed 40 hours per week or eight hours per day, excluding breaks, with possible overtime up to 12 hours per week under both parties' consent.

The system was introduced in 2018 to reduce the maximum workweek to 52 hours from 68.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor, which previously viewed that any time worked beyond eight hours per day is considered overtime, embraced this latest ruling.

“The ministry views the ruling to be rational for flexibly allowing workers to work more in busy times and rest enough in less busy times,” the ministry said in a released statement, Tuesday, adding that it plans to implement the ruling promptly to its administrative interpretation of overtime work.

In response, labor activists strongly protested the ruling.

In a statement released Monday, The Federation of Korean Trade Unions criticized the ruling for “falling behind the times” for “overshadowing the purpose of setting eight hours a day as legal working hours” and called for the National Assembly’s legislation to protect workers’ rights.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the other major umbrella union, also released a statement underscoring the legal cap on working hours was aimed to prevent excessive labor beyond employees’ physical limitations while urging the government to set daily maximum work hours and allow workers to get 11 consecutive hours of rest.

Meanwhile, business circles welcomed the ruling, calling it a flexible adoption of the 52-hour workweek, claiming that it is already widespread at worksites in various industries.

In the labor ministry's latest survey of 6,030 Korean nationals, 48.2 percent of the respondents said the 52-hour workweek has helped relieve work overload but 54.9 percent said the existing system has failed to reflect the characteristics of some industries.

In particular, the manufacturing and construction industries, as well as the medical, research and engineering sectors called for the government to change work hours management regulations.

“Business circles believe more flexible management of work hours is necessary and look forward to seeing government reform on this matter as soon as possible,” the Korea Enterprises Federation said.