Ⅳ. Restrictions on Dismissal and Term of Notice

1. Restrictions on dismissal
An employer may not dismiss an employee who is on leave due to occupational illness or injury or on pre-or post-natal leave, or within 30 days after such leave. An exception can be made, however, when the employer has made temporary compensation as prescribed in Article 84 of the LSA, or when he/she cannot continue the business(Article 23, paragraph 2 of the LSA).

2. Term of notice
An employer who intends to dismiss his/her employee shall give 30-days’ notice to the employee or pay him/her 30 days’ ordinary wage(in dismissal allowance)(Article 26 of the LSA).

3. Exceptions to requirement for advance notice of dismissal
The employer is exempted from the obligation to give prior notice in the following cases: ① Where the employee worked consecutively less than 3 months; ② when it is impossible for the employer to continue his/her business due to national disaster, war, or other unavoidable reason, or ③ in cases where the employee has caused the employer a loss of property and the cause of dismissal falls into any of the reasons prescribed in the Labor Ministry Ordinance(Article 26 of the LSA).


※ The following cases may constitute “reasons prescribed in the Labor Ministry Ordinance”:

① An employee takes a bribe to allow an inflow of flawed products from a supplier and has therefore disturbed the company’s production process;
② An employee has another person drive a business vehicle without authorization, which results in a car accident;
③ An employee provides confidential business information to another competitor company, which adversely affects the employer’s business;
④ An employee makes up or disseminates ungrounded facts or masterminds unlawful collective actions that cause a considerable disturbance to the business;
⑤ An employee takes advantage of his/her job position or breaches trust to misappropriate, embezzle, or use company money for private purposes for a long time(e.g., embezzling the proceeds from operating a company vehicle);
⑥ An employee steals or carries products or product materials off company premises without authorization;
⑦ An employee, being engaged in personnel management, treasury or accounting, manipulates the records or produces fraudulent statements that cause damage to the business;
⑧ An employee deliberately destroys company equipment or property, causing a considerable disturbance to the business; or
⑨ An employee deliberately commits such acts, and disturbs the business seriously or causes considerable financial damage to the company.

Ⅴ. Justification for Suspension with Pay

A. : The Supreme Court has ruled, “In order for the company to continue to maintain its activities, it is essential to re-assign or adjust the workforce. Personnel management orders including suspension from duties(with pay) are a right the employer has with the authority to manage the workforce. Accordingly, such a personnel management order shall be respected as the employer’s discretionary right within necessary boundaries. This cannot be regarded as illegal except for cases where this violates the Labor Standards Act or amounts to an abuse of this right.” Based upon this ruling, the Labor Relations Commission estimated that a certain company’s orders for an employee to wait at home did not abuse its right to manage its personnel in consideration of the following: ① There is insufficient evidence that the company truly planned to allow the Employee to return as head of General Affairs from Overseas Purchasing; ② It would have caused significant difficulty for the employee to return as head of General Affairs because another employee was already assigned to that position; ③ The company could suspend the first employee with pay without disadvantage if such an action were required; ④ There was no lowering of the employee’s wages while suspended.