The Supreme Court has ruled that it is unfair to deduct a flat one hour, as with full-time public officials, when paying overtime allowances to "part-time public officials," who work fewer hours than full-time public officials.
The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Ma Yong-ju) said on the 1st that on the 29th it overturned an appellate ruling that found the government did not need to pay additional allowances and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court, in a wage claim lawsuit filed by two members, including a person surnamed Kim, of the Korea Federation of Trade Unions' National Part-Time Public Officials' Union against the government.
Ordinary full-time public officials work from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., working eight hours a day excluding a one-hour lunch break. Part-time public officials work fewer hours than this, with daily working hours between 15 and 35 hours per week.
When full-time public officials work overtime, one hour is deducted in consideration of dinner time before paying the allowance. This rule was applied as is to part-time public officials.
The union argued that this rule is unreasonable. If a part-time public official who works 20 hours a week from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. worked additionally until 6 p.m., the point was that deducting one hour is unfair even though dinner was not taken.
In the first trial, the court sided with the union, ordering the government to pay the two members unpaid allowances of 1.12 million won and 2.76 million won, respectively. The first trial court found, "After finishing lunch and completing basic work by 2 p.m., the plaintiffs continued to work overtime until before 7 p.m., and it would not have been a situation where they could additionally take a separate meal or break."
In the second trial, the court dismissed all of the plaintiffs' claims. The appellate court said, "If the specific circumstances of part-time public officials are taken into account, confusion could arise in calculating overtime allowances for full-time public officials."
In contrast, the Supreme Court found it reasonable to view that the deduction provision applied to full-time public officials does not apply to overtime performed during the ordinary working hours of part-time public officials. It added the caveat that if the overtime performed outside ordinary working hours is less than one hour, only that time may be deducted.
Following this ruling, the Seoul High Court, while hearing the remanded case, must recalculate the overtime allowances the plaintiffs are to receive.
Jeong Seong-hye, Chairperson of the Part-Time Workers' Union, said, "Paying fair wages for the hours actually worked is the most basic principle of labor," adding, "Relevant rules must be revised immediately and discrimination eliminated."