‘Weekly’ working hours are broken… ‘Permit 69 hours a week’ Yoon government labor policy recommendation

The Future Labor Market Research Association (Research Society), which has prepared a labor market reform plan at the request of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, recommended the government on the 12th to change the overtime management unit from the current ‘weekly unit’ to the maximum ‘yearly unit’. According to this plan, the maximum working hours per week could be increased from the current 52 hours to 69 hours. The research group also recommended changing the seniority (merit for service for several years) type wage system represented by the grade pay system to a job and performance-based wage system. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) criticized it as a “reformed recommendation that leaves the decision on wages and working hours to the employer.”

The research group announced its final recommendation on this morning at the President Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. “The current working hour system is no longer in line with technological innovation and digital revolution,” said the research group. In addition, he added, “It is also necessary to overhaul the wage system linked to individual duties and abilities.”

The research group was launched on July 18 to discuss labor reform tasks to be proposed to the government. However, the convergence of opinions of the labor community, which is the real party, has not been properly carried out. All 12 members were made up of university professors, and no discussions with labor groups were held. The research group held an expert meeting with the business community last month and announced that it would hold a separate meeting with the labor community, but it was not carried out. The recommendation issued by the research society on this day is expected to be largely accepted as a government plan, so it is expected to become a big framework for the ‘labor reform’ set forth by the Yoon Seok-yeol government as one of the three reform tasks.

The core of the reform plan is to break the ‘limit of 12 hours of overtime per week’. Reorganize the management of overtime hours from ‘weekly’ to monthly, quarterly, semiannual and annual units. According to the recommendation, the total amount of overtime work is limited to 52 hours per month, 140 hours per quarter (3 months), 250 hours per half year (6 months), and 440 hours per year (1 year). Instead, ’11 consecutive hours of rest’ during working days was also proposed as a device to protect workers’ health rights.

According to the current Labor Standards Act, in principle, working hours per week cannot exceed 40 hours, excluding break time. If the employer and the worker agree, overtime work can be done up to 12 hours a week.

If you change the overtime management unit to monthly as recommended by the study group, you can work up to 69 hours a week. A maximum of 29 hours of overtime is allowed per week, and the average working hours per day is 11 hours and 30 minutes based on six days a week.

The study group argued that the reorganization of working hours would give workers the right to choose. In addition, the overtime limit was set on a monthly, quarterly, semiannual, and annual basis, and it was revealed that the limit was not longer than the monthly unit (52 hours). However, concerns still arise in that labor intensity is related to overwork as much as working hours. The ’11-hour continuous break’ is the only clear measure related to the protection of the right to health presented by the research society. The research group handed the ball over to the Ministry of Labor for countermeasures such as night work. The study group explained, “We conducted various reviews, but there were limits to the recommendations that could be specified.”

The research association stipulates that employers and worker representatives must agree in writing to change the management of overtime hours on a monthly basis or longer, but questions are raised whether labor and management can reach an agreement on equal status in Korea, where the unionization rate is only 14%. .

The study group also presented a plan to expand the settlement period and application of the selective working hour system. The selective working hour system is one of the flexible working systems, in which the worker chooses the working day and working hours while maintaining an average of 52 hours per week. Previously, only 3 months for R&D and 1 month for other industries were allowed, but it was decided to expand this to ‘3 months for all industries’. In addition, the recommendation includes a plan to seek institutional improvement in the method of electing ‘partial worker representatives’ so that only various occupational groups in the workplace can introduce the flexible working system.

It was recommended to change the wage system from the current seniority-based to a job-based and competency-based one. He said that a wage system should be designed and established for small and medium-sized enterprises and workers, and for each industry. In addition, the study group recommended that “lawful and institutional improvement measures should be sought, such as clarifying the scope of consenting parties to change the rules of employment, so that the diversity of jobs, occupations, and occupations can be reflected in the wage system.”

It also recommended overhauling related systems such as wage and job adjustments to continue hiring older workers, regular labor supervision to prevent misuse and abuse of comprehensive wages, and the establishment and operation of a ‘win-win wage committee’.

The study group also included recommendations such as ‘improving the predictability of the distinction between dispatch and subcontracting’ and ‘reviewing the improvement of laws and systems such as the scope of using alternative labor and restrictions on occupation of workplaces’. The labor world is already criticizing this as “relaxing the standards for the dispatch industry and violating the constitutionally guaranteed right to strike.” The study group explained, “The task of further reform is that we need to seek alternatives, and we have not proposed any answer.”

The Ministry of Labor decided to discuss whether to accept the research group’s recommendation as it is or go through additional collection of opinions. The government plans to announce the government’s bill and legislative schedule by early next year at the earliest.

Minister of Labor Lee Jung-sik said on his Facebook page that day, “It will be difficult for anyone to raise objections to the experts’ diagnosis,” and “I will do my best to complete labor market reform. We will come up with a legislative bill as soon as possible.”