MOEL Interpretation

Labor Union Act

Time-Off System


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165 Records
165.
164.Since the size of union membership is not detailed but designed in broad categories, issues of fairness between workplaces of different sizes may arise. In particular, at this workplace, with approximately 1,200 union members, the exemption limit is set at 10,000 hours—the same as for workplaces with 2,999 members—making labor-management disputes inevitable. We are very concerned about this situation. This issue is not unique to our workplace but affects many workplaces in Korea. What is the position of the Ministry of Employment and Labor on this matter?
163.1. Under the Working Hour Exemption Limit notice, whether the “eligible personnel” for using working hour exemptions includes, in addition to full-time and partial-time union officials, non-full-time union executives, union delegates, and general union members. 2. In workplaces where the collective agreement recognizes paid union activity time as, for example, “00 hours per week for non-full-time union officials, 00 hours per month for union delegates and branch delegates, 00 hours per quarter for union member training,” whether such recognized union activity time is subject to the working hour exemption limit. 3. Related to item 2, if the recognized union activity time exceeds the working hour exemption limit, whether the excess can be treated as unpaid in the future regardless of the collective agreement. 4. In workplaces where, based on labor-management agreement, joint committees (e.g., Employment Security Committee, HR Improvement Committee, Salary Committee) are operated by labor and management, whether the time spent on these committees is subject to the working hour exemption limit. 5. Article 24(2) of the Labor Union Act prohibits full-time officials from receiving any salary during their term; whether “salary” includes other costs provided to the union such as vehicle rental, fuel, communication fees, etc. 6. Whether providing operating costs such as communication, vehicle rental, fuel, office equipment, or multifunction printer lease fees to the union constitutes an unfair labor practice. 7. After the full implementation of the time-off system on July 1, whether regular bonuses or special performance bonuses must be paid to “full-time working hour exempt union officials.” 8. Whether reducing the current number of union full-time officials as per the Ministry of Employment and Labor notice and contributing the savings to a union self-reliance fund constitutes an unfair labor practice. 9. Whether reducing the number of full-time officials per the notice and paying a fixed amount (e.g., 50,000 KRW per member per month) from the union self-reliance fund constitutes an unfair labor practice. 10. Whether granting revenue-generating rights (e.g., parking lot management, cafeteria operation, vending machine management, uniform projects) to the union as part of its financial self-reliance plan constitutes an unfair labor practice. 11. If the union requests a fixed allowance (e.g., 50,000 KRW) from the company to fund the reduced number of full-time officials, and this is approved and processed via union general assembly as a union dues increase for lump-sum deduction, whether this amount must be collected and delivered to the union. 12. Whether payment of a lump sum equivalent to the total one-year salary of the reduced full-time officials to the union as part of the self-reliance fund before July 1 (implementation date) has any legal issues. 13. In a workplace with \~2,300 union members and a 10,000-hour exemption cap, if the collective agreement recognizes paid union activity time (weekly, monthly, quarterly) for non-full-time officials, delegates, and members, whether such activity constitutes an unfair labor practice per the Ministry’s manual. 14. Whether “union member training time” under the existing collective agreement counts toward the working hour exemption limit, and how the company should address potential overages. 15. After full implementation on July 1, how the following should be applied regarding: ① full-time union officials, ② partial-time union officials, ③ full-time working hour exempt employees, ④ part-time working hour exempt employees, concerning: ⓐ regular bonuses, ⓑ special performance bonuses (non-wage basis), ⓒ welfare benefits (medical, scholarships, etc.). 16. According to the Ministry’s manual, if negotiation or consultation time exceeds a day’s scheduled work hours, whether the excess should be paid, and if so, how to calculate wages for full-time exempt employees—whether adding only the excess to regular wages or following pre-agreed formulas (salary + 2 hours overtime/day + 2 special workdays/month + position allowance) is permissible, and whether the excess should be deducted from the exemption limit.
162.1. When designating two existing union full-time officials as working hour exempt employees, is it necessary to issue a personnel order if their department assignments are changed? 2. Upon designation as a working hour exempt employee, what title should be used?
161.Legitimacy of Industrial Action Demanding Payment Exceeding Working Hour Exemption Limits
160.1. According to administrative guidelines, the daily ordinary wage for calculating statutory allowances is based on 226 hours of prescribed monthly working hours (40 hours per week, paid Saturday; calculation: 40 + 4 + 8 ÷ 7 days × 365 ÷ 12 months = 226 hours). Converting this to an annual basis gives 226 × 12 = 2,712 hours. 2. The Ministry of Employment and Labor’s (MOEL) notice uses 2,000 hours (40 hours × 52 weeks minus approximately 10 agreed holidays) as the standard for full-time working-hour exemptions. At our company, the annual working hours total 2,712 hours (226 × 12), which is significantly higher than the MOEL standard, resulting in a substantial reduction in the number of employees eligible for working-hour exemptions. We would like to clarify whether the concept of “annual prescribed working hours” mentioned in the manual should be calculated this way, or if it should reflect only actual hours worked.
159.If a working-hour-exempt employee has used up their annual exemption limit within about 10 months, should activities such as negotiation, consultation, and grievance handling that exceed the exemption limit be paid?
158.If the time required for activities of employee representatives in labor-management committees composed of non-union members (under the Worker Participation Act, Industrial Safety and Health Act, etc.) exceeds the company’s agreed working-hour exemption limit, is this legally problematic?
157.When the time for working-hour-exempt activities exceeds the prescribed daily working hours, if the employer and union autonomously decide to treat the excess hours as paid: 1. Must additional pay (overtime premium) be provided for the excess hours? 2. If the exemption hours inevitably exceed the annual working-hour exemption limit due to activities under individual laws (e.g., labor-management council, industrial safety and health committee), can the excess hours be paid based on those individual laws?
156.While it is clear that the time limits set by the Working-Hour Exemption Review Committee are on an annual basis, it is unclear whether the maximum number of employees that can be used refers to a daily or annual unit. When agreeing on part-time working-hour-exempt employees, can the employer and union specify the exact number of exempt employees for each activity (e.g., 0 for collective bargaining, 0 for labor-management councils, etc.)?
155.Facts: Union members: 351; full-time exempt employees: 3.5; Time-off (Taime-Off) application date: April 1, 2011. Union chair receives fixed monthly overtime of 104 hours (including holiday work); annual recognized pay hours: 3,110 hours (including overtime). Actual annual working hours: 1,942 hours (after deducting statutory holidays, agreed holidays, etc.) Questions: If the union chair works full-time under the Time-Off system and is paid 100% of the previous salary, should 3,110 hours be deducted from the working-hour exemption limit, or 1,942 hours (actual working hours)? If full-time exempt employees are paid within the annual working-hour exemption limit (5,000 hours) and 3,110 hours are deducted, does this constitute an unfair labor practice? If two full-time exempt employees each use 2,250 hours and one part-time exempt employee uses 500 hours, does recognizing this constitute an unfair labor practice? If an employee works full-time as an exempt employee, is the annual recognized limit per person within 2,000 hours?
154.Facts: Since 2012, a guideline has been established recognizing 1 full-time union officer per 500 members. Based on the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s announced limits, 16 working-hour-exempt employees were recognized with an annual limit of 2,000 hours, and it was agreed to recalculate the exemption limit each year according to the proportion of union members. After July 1, 2011, a second union was newly established. According to the agreement with the existing majority union, the number of full-time union officers should be recalculated as of December 31, 2011, based on each union’s member count. It is expected that some members who were in the existing union also joined the new second union. Questions: If an agreement is made with the existing representative union that members who are dual-enrolled and do not pay dues to the new union will not be counted toward the new union’s membership when calculating full-time union officers under the working-hour exemption system, is such an agreement valid? Because branch operations involve frequent external travel and outreach, attendance management is difficult, so only full-time exempt employees are recognized, not part-time. If an agreement with the representative union allows recognition of 1 full-time exempt employee or unpaid full-time officer when membership thresholds are met, but part-time officers are not recognized when the threshold is not met, does this create a legal issue?
153.1. From July 1, 2010, the annual working-hour exemption limit is set at 10,000 hours, and 5 full-time exempt employees are using it. If the union executive changes and the new composition is 2 full-time and 6 part-time employees, is it possible to apply half of the annual exemption limit for the period from July 1, 2010, to December 31, 2010, and then grant the full annual exemption limit again for January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2011? 2. When a change in the union executive results in a substantial change in working-hour-exempt personnel, is it possible to settle the exemption limit for the previous executive (used hours × annual exemption limit) and grant a new annual exemption limit for the new executive for one year from the date of the executive change?
152.Facts: Work types include regular daily work, shift work under a flexible-hour system, and rotating work. According to the collective agreement, the working hours for regular daily workers are 8 hours per day, and for shift and rotating workers, 165 hours per month. Union A had 14 exempt employees with a working-hour exemption limit of 33,000 hours, and Union B had 2 exempt employees with a limit of 1,000 hours. Questions: How should the annual prescribed working hours be calculated? If the total company-wide working-hour exemption limit is 34,000 hours, what is the appropriate number of part-time exempt employees? In the case of Union B, with a negotiated exemption limit of 1,000 hours, is it possible to operate with part-time exempt employees allocated as 36 for the company, 34 for Union A, and 2 for Union B?
151.1. Section managers have submitted union membership applications and participate in union activities. They do not have employer authority and perform the same work as general employees. However, the collective agreement with the employer excludes employees at the section manager level and above from the scope of union membership. 2. When determining the working-hour exemption limit, should section managers who are union members be included in the calculation?
150.Facts: The company has two factories (A and B). Each factory has a labor union composed only of production workers, while the headquarters (C) has no union and consists only of office/administrative staff. Each factory’s management department mainly handles employee attendance management and labor-management relations improvement, while the headquarters negotiates collective agreements with the factory unions and handles hiring, promotion, retirement, transfers, wages, and evaluations. Executives overseeing personnel, labor, and accounting work at the headquarters and manage all three business sites. There is one CEO at the headquarters, and accounting disclosure is conducted for a single corporate entity. Although the factories are not separate legal entities, and functions such as HR, investment, accounting, and policy decisions are centralized at the headquarters, due to the company’s characteristics—where the U.S. parent company K acquired the Korean factories, each with its own corporate culture and separate collective agreements—how should the working-hour exemption limit be calculated?
149.The organization has four hospitals under its jurisdiction. Three hospitals have an integrated union, while the remaining hospital has an independent union. The operational methods are the same for all hospitals. The independent union has a collective agreement in place. Is it possible to determine the working-hour exemption limit based on the number of union members in each union?
148.The company operates two business divisions, comprising a total of 10 workplaces across multiple regions. The labor unions are organized for production workers, reflecting business area and geographic characteristics, and are operated as three separate unions. The company has concluded separate wage and collective agreements with each of the three unions. Human resources and labor management are based on a single set of employment rules, but certain workplace-specific matters are delegated to resident executives (factory managers). For production workers, two separate wage and working condition systems are applied according to the characteristics of each business division. Accounting management is internally separated into two divisions corresponding to the business divisions. In a situation where multiple unions exist within the same legal entity, and different wages and working conditions apply depending on the business area, how should the term “business or workplace,” which forms the basis for granting working-hour exemption limits, be interpreted and applied—based on the entire corporation, by business division, or by individual union?
147.Company A acquired and merged with Companies B and C, and through a series of organizational restructurings, reorganized them into the same business group. To improve management efficiency, the business is operated in three divisions. Within each of the three divisions, multiple unions exist. Only the existing “Gam” union of Company C has been subject to the working-hour exemption system since July 1, 2010, while the other unions continue to receive full-time wages for their representatives under collective agreements valid prior to January 1, 2010, until the agreements expire on [date] 2011. Should the working-hour exemption limit be applied based on the total number of union members across the entire business, and then allocated according to each union’s membership ratio, or should it be considered on an individual business unit basis given the independence in HR, labor, and accounting (independent property management)?
146.**Facts:** * Company A has multiple in-house partner companies performing subcontracted work at each production plant (A, B, C). The union organization representing these in-house subcontractors is not a company-specific union, but part of the Metal Workers’ Union, Gap Company Branch (industry-wide union). * Specifically, within each plant branch (A, B, C) of the Gap Company Branch, there are in-house subcontractor subcommittees. Membership numbers per subcommittee are: A subcommittee – 236 members (8 companies), B subcommittee – 1,749 members (28 companies), C subcommittee – 320 members (7 companies). Each subcommittee has a chairperson and elected delegates (A: 4, B: 22, C: 5). * A collective agreement was signed on October 10, 2008, between the 37 in-house partner companies with union members and the Gap Company Branch (in-house subcontractor subcommittees), which expired on April 1, 2010. Currently, both labor and management are requesting a revision of the agreement. * Regarding working-hour exemption limits under the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act (Article 24, Paragraph 4; Enforcement Decree Article 11-2), the time and number of personnel are determined according to the “total number of union members of the business or workplace.” The inquiry is which of the following criteria should apply for determining “business or workplace”: 1. Use the entire in-house subcontractor union membership corresponding to the in-house partner companies under the collective agreement as a single independent unit (A, B, C subcommittees total: 2,305 members). 2. Use the union membership of each plant subcommittee individually (A: 236, B: 1,749, C: 320). 3. Treat each in-house partner company as a separate “business” and use the membership per company as the basis.
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