Minimum Wage Increased in South Korea for 2021: Employment Law Update

The Ministry of Employment and Labor of South Korea has increased the minimum hourly wage by 1.5% for 2021 to KRW 8,720.00 compared to the 2020 minimum hourly wage of KRW 8,590.00. This new minimum hourly wage took effect on January 01, 2021. Moreover, in accordance with the hourly wage increase, the new minimum monthly wage, based on 209 working hours per month, will now be KRW 1,822,480.00 per month. The new minimum hourly wage also applies to both local

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52-Hour Workweek Delayed in Korea for SMEs: Korean Labor Law Update

The Korean government delayed the implementation of the 52-hour workplace system for certain small and medium size companies. This System is intended to apply to all companies in Korea and mandates that no employee may work for an employer for more than 52-hours in any one week. The Ministry of Employment and Labor of Korea announced, on December 11, 2019, that the 52-hour workplace system is suspended for SMEs (Employers with less than 300 workers) until the end of 2020.

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Consequences of a Business Transfer in Korea: Employee Transfer?

In Korea, there is no statutory provision for the protection of employees in the event of a business transfer. Therefore, it has been left to the Korean courts to decide whether, and in what circumstances, employee transfer may occur as part of a business transfer.  The following is a basic explanation of the law of business transfer in Korea as it relates to the relationship between an employer and an employee. The Korean courts have generally held that, in the

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Choice of Law Issues in Employment Disputes in Korea

Choice of law/jurisdiction issue often arise in Korea when an agreement chooses a law/jurisdiction for resolution of a dispute other than Korea, internal conflicts in the agreement exist (yes this happens) or no choice of law/jurisdiction clause was chosen and the agreement seems to be better handled by a foreign court, or by the law of the foreign jurisdiction, because of, inter alia, the locale of witnesses and the subject matter of the agreement. Choice of law/jurisdiction issues are governed in

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Civil Liability of Companies for Actions of Employees Off the Company Property and After Work Hours

Korea imposes, in some cases, liability on companies for actions of employees of companies even when the employee conducts an intentional wrongful act outside the workplace, after the work hours and beyond the duties imposed by the employer.  The employer is not relieved of civil liability by a mere limiting the scope of duties of employees, warnings to employees or having comprehensive sexual harassment education programs. A, typical, sexual harassment situation, related to this issue, occurs after a company office

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Doing Business in Korea: The Korea labor market under the Moon administration

The election of progressive President Jae-in Moon, after the impeachment and imprisonment of the conservative former President, led to, among other progressive proposals, pledges from the President Moon Administration of sweeping changes to Korea’s Labor & Employment Law.  The following appears in a publication supported by the Korean Government.  The complete publication may be found at: Discovering Business in Korea.  The following changes are the major changes proposed by the Moon Administration. The changes may have a significant affect on companies doing

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Foreign-Capital Invested Companies in Korea Subsidies for Employing New Workers in Seoul, Korea

The Seoul Government has issued the following official notice in order to inform foreign-capital invested companies of a program to partially subsidize the wages of newly hired Korean employees. We have recently advised clients eligible for this program in our quarterly legal update.  We have also advised on the numerous other new tax holiday, incentive, and other programs available to foreign businesses operating in Korea and will be posting some of these updates on this blog over the next couple

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