[NATIONAL] Korea pushes to raise cap on maximum weekly work hours

By Jun Ji-hye

The pro-business Yoon Suk Yeol administration seeks to extend a mandatory 52-hour cap on the workweek, introduced by the previous Moon Jae-in government, following long-standing complaints raised by employers over what they claim is a lack of flexibility of working hours and difficulties in meeting deadlines.
The pro-business Yoon Seok-yeol government is seeking to extend the 52-hour work week introduced by the Jeon Jae-in administration, reflecting long-standing complaints from employers about a lack of flexible working hours and difficulty meeting deadlines.

The core of the revised measures announced by the government, Monday, is to enable companies to increase the maximum weekly work hours to 69 and allow workers to take longer vacations.
The key to the reforms announced by the government on Monday is to increase the maximum working hours per week for companies to 69 and extend rest periods for workers.

While business circles welcomed the announcement, the government’s move to overhaul the workweek system is expected to face resistance due to objections from opposition parties as well as labor groups.
The business world welcomed the announcement, but the government’s move to revise the weekly working hours is expected to face opposition from the opposition party and labor circles.

The government announced the measures after a meeting presided over by Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho.
The government held a meeting presided over by Minister of Strategy and Finance, Choo Kyung-ho, and announced countermeasures.

The existing workweek system was introduced in 2018 by the liberal president at the time to reduce the maximum work hours from 68 hours to 52 per week ― 40 regular hours with 12 hours of possible overtime.
The existing weekly work system was introduced in 2018 by the then-progressive president to reduce the maximum working hours per week from 68 hours to 52 hours, that is, 40 hours of regular work and 12 hours of overtime.

Businesses have complained that there were no sufficient guidelines customizable to each industry, although the characteristics of each differ. Under the existing system, employers face criminal punishment if even one employee works for one more hour than the mandatory 52 hours a week.
Companies complained about the lack of customized guidelines despite the different characteristics of each industry. Under the existing system, if an employee works even one hour more than the mandatory 52 hours a week, the employer is subject to criminal punishment.

The government concluded that managing overtime solely on a weekly basis has been irrational and decided to allow companies to manage extra work hours also on a monthly, quarterly, semiannual or yearly basis.
The government decided that it was unreasonable to manage overtime hours only on a weekly basis, and decided to expand them on a monthly, quarterly (3 months), semiannual (6 months), and annual basis.

This will extend the maximum weekly work hours to 69, according to the government, enabling employees to choose more hours during weeks with heavy workloads and fewer hours during weeks with less work.
The government said it would increase the maximum working hours per week to 69, allowing employees to choose longer hours during busy weeks and fewer hours during less busy weeks.

In a bid to guarantee long vacations, such as a one-month holiday, the government decided to introduce the so-called “working hours savings system,” so employees can save vacations created from their overtime work and combine them with their annual holidays.
The government is also planning to introduce a so-called “working time savings account system,” which allows employees to collect vacation accrued from overtime work and combine it with annual leave to guarantee long-term vacations such as one-month vacations.

KEY WORDS
■ mandatory
■ cap limit
■ long-standing old
■ revise (plan) change[수정]do
■ circle ~ total[사회]
■ overhaul (system) check[정비]do
■ look over the society of preside over
■ liberal progressive
■ irrational illogical
■ overtime overtime

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