A Seoul Administrative Court ruled that it is lawful for an employer, even before a stalking charge was adjudicated, to change an employee’s workplace when the employee is identified as the perpetrator of stalking against an alleged victim, provided that a report was filed with the employer. In May 2026, the 3rd Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the Employer. Facts Seoul Administrative Court Holding The Employee, in short, argued that: “Taking personnel action on someone with the assumption they are a
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Amendments to the Korean Labor Standards Act: Break-Time Flexibility and Hourly Annual Leave
Recent amendments to the Korean Labor Standards Act introduce two important changes to the statutory framework governing working hours, rest periods, and annual paid leave. The amendments address long-standing practical issues arising from the rigid application of break-time rules and the absence of an express statutory basis for using annual leave in hourly units. The first amendment explained below permits employees who work exactly four hours to waive the statutory 30-minute break, provided the employee expressly requests to forgo the break. The second amendment, explained below, establishes
Continue readingKorean Supreme Court: Broad Recognition of Status of “Employee” under the Korean Labor Standards Act
The Supreme Court of Korea ruled that a hairstylist with a payment based on 100% commission is an employee under the Korean Labor Standards Act (“LSA”) entitled to severance benefits and other protections under Korea’s Labor & Employment Law. Article 2(1) of the LSA defines an “employee” as “a person, regardless of the kind of occupation, who offers labor to business or a workplace for the purposes of earning wages.” “Wages” is defined as “wages, salary and any other kinds of money or valuables, regardless of their
Continue readingMinimum 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 and foreign workers in South Korea. The
Continue reading52-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. The Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor
Continue readingBusiness Transfers and Employee Rights Under Korean Labor Law:
Korean labor law does not contain a comprehensive statutory regime governing the protection of employees working in Korea in the event of a business transfer. Korea does not have an equivalent to the EU’s Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Directive (TUPE). As a result, the legal framework governing employee protection in business transfers has developed through Korean judicial precedent. 1. Business Transfers in Korea Korean statutes, including the Korean Labor Standards Act, do not expressly regulate whether employees must be transferred to a transferee in a
Continue readingChoice 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 Korea mainly by Korea’s Private International Act
Continue readingCivil 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 party. The manager takes his team out
Continue readingDoing 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 business in Korea and may lead to
Continue readingForeign-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 of weeks. We think this program is
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