Working Hours, Holiday, Leave

Chapter 2 Working Hours and Extended Working Hours

Legal Standard Working Hours

1. Concept of Legal Standard Working Hours

Working hours stipulated in the Labor Standards Act are regulated in units of one day and one week. The purposes of standard working hours are to rehabilitate the employee from mental and physical fatigue, preserve labor service, and guarantee the employee's right to participate in social and cultural activities. Legal standard working hours regulated in the Labor Standards Act are as follows:



The Labor Standards Act:
Article 50 (Working Hours)
① Working hours per week shall not exceed 40 hours excluding recess hours.
② Working hours per day shall not exceed 8 hours excluding recess hours.
Article 69 (Work Hours [for minors]) Working hours of a person aged between 15 and 18 shall not exceed 7 hours per day and 35 hours per week. However, the working hours may be extended up to an hour per day, or 5 hours per week, by an agreement between the parties concerned.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act
Article 139 (Restriction on Extension of Working Hours for Harmful or Dangerous Work) With respect to a worker who is engaged in harmful or dangerous work prescribed by Presidential Decree, the employer shall not have him work in excess of 6 hours per day or 34 hours per week.

2. Calculating contractual working hours

Contractual working hours are working hours within the legal standard working hours on which the employer and the employees have agreed. It is a concept mainly used to convert daily pay or monthly pay into hourly pay. Accordingly, the hourly ordinary wage is differentiated by the contractual working hours. Contractual working hours determine the hourly ordinary wage, which is calculated by the day, week, or month, then divided by the working hours of the given period. Contractual hours also include the wages paid as an additional allowance for overtime work. They are the standard hours of payment for calculating wages.

1) In the case of a weekly 5-day work week (8 hours daily) with one day of paid leave and one day of unpaid leave


2) Contractual working hours for employees between the ages of 15 and 18 years (in the case where there is no regulation provided by the company)


3) Contractual working hours for employees working under harmful and dangerous conditions (i.e., engaged in submarine or diving work) (in cases of 6 hours for 6 days and 4 hours for one day a week)

For further questions, please
call (+82) 2-539-0098 or email bongsoo@k-labor.com

    • 맨앞으로
    • 앞으로
    • 다음
    • 맨뒤로