The South Korean government has submitted a proposal to revise the law on the work week after the maximum number of hours worked in seven days was lowered from 68 to 52 in 2018. Employees will also have the option of turning vacations into vacations. hours in excess. The country’s main unions and the opposition are against it.
Seoul () – Young workers in South Korea are in favor of a new labor reform presented by the government that aims to give companies and employees more flexibility in managing working hours and overtime.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), South Korea is the member country with highest number of hours worked per capita. For this reason, when in 2018 the maximum weekly hours were lowered from 68 to 52, it was a small economic revolution for the Asian country, although it was not without controversy. At the time, the progressives were in government, but now that the conservatives are back in power, labor market reform is high on President Yoon Suk-yeol’s list of priorities.
On March 6, the government unveiled its plan to reform the law on the working week. According to the regulations currently in force, a maximum of 12 overtime hours per week per worker is established. The reform, on the other hand, aims to make the calculation of these hours more flexible: instead of calculating the maximum of overtime on a weekly basis, the conservatives propose introducing longer time slots to better manage the hours worked in excess based on the needs and distribution of the workload.
The Government’s proposal introduces new maximum limits, which decrease as the time slot increases: in this way, each worker will be able to do an alternative maximum of 52 overtime hours per month, or 140 quarterly, or 250 hours per semester, or 440 per year. Employers will be obliged to guarantee a rest period of at least 11 hours between one shift and another, and workers will also be given the possibility of turn overtime into vacationwhich can be accumulated with vacation days already guaranteed by law.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the new rules should allow companies to ask each employee up to a maximum of 69 hours of overtime per week while keeping the average weekly hours worked below the 52-hour limit.
“We will focus on giving more flexibility and choice in working hours, so that employees can work and rest whenever they want,” said Finance Minister Choo Kyung-ho, who introduced the reform bill.
Industry associations were the first to applaud the reform, with the Korea Business Federation stating that it was a “starting point for reviewing outdated laws and systems.” Due to its rigidity, the current legislation has always been highly criticized by employers, especially small and mediumwho are actually asking the government even bolder steps on the issue of labor market reform.
The two main unions in the country, on the other hand, are against the reform and affirm that the provisions only favor employers, who will force their employees to work even longer hours. Opposition parties have also spoken out against the reform.
However, the proposal seems to find consensus among young workers aged 20 to 30. According to the results of a survey published by Korea JoongAng Daily, 57% of young people believe that the limit of 52 hours per week is inappropriate for a modern society where working hours should be more flexible.
