Must a Korean Dismissal Notificiation be in Writing?

If an employer terminates the employment of an employee working in Korea verbally (not in writing) the dismissal shall be ruled an “unfair dismissal” and the employee shall be reinstated to the job with backpay. Article 27 of the Korean Labor Standards Act and Korean court precedent dictates that dismissal of an employee must be notified in writing to be effective. For an article on “unfair dismissal” please see:

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled on September 2024 in favor of an Employee in a lawsuit filed by an Employer against the Central Labor Relations Commission to revoke the retrial decision on unfair dismissal.

The Employer hired the Employee as a clerk in February 2023 without a written employment contract. Employer verbally notified the Employee of the termination of the employment of the Employee in April 2023 of the same year and gave the employee 1 million won. The day after the Employee received the 1 million won, the Employee filed to the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission to invalidate the dismissal. The Labor Relations Commission ruled that the action of the Employee “is an unfair dismissal due to violation of the duty to provide written notice at the time of dismissal.” The Employer applied for a retrial to the Central Labor Relations Commission, but when it was dismissed for the same reason, the Employer filed a lawsuit to the Administrative Court.

The Administrative Court confirmed the holding of the Central Labor Relations Commission confirming that any punitive actions against an employee in Korea must be in writing to be effective against the employee.

Sean Hayes is the first non-Korean attorney to have worked for the Korean court system (Constitutional Court of Korea) and one of the first non-Koreans to be a regular member of a Korean law faculty. Sean is ranked, for Korea, as one of only two non-Korean lawyers as a Top Attorney by AsiaLaw, and IPG Legal is consistently ranked Top Dispute Resolution Law Firm for our litigation services.

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