Court Rules "Overtime Pay Must Be Provided to Public Officials Even If It Exceeds Budget Limits"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] A court ruling has determined that overtime pay must be provided to firefighters even if their overtime work exceeds the budget limits.

According to the legal community on the 12th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 11 (Presiding Judge Hyungsun Park) ruled in a lawsuit filed by retired firefighter Mr. A against the Seoul Metropolitan Government for unpaid overtime pay, ordering "the payment of a total of 4.1 million KRW to Mr. A, including delayed damages on the unpaid overtime pay."

The court stated, "Local public officials are entitled to receive overtime pay corresponding to the actual overtime hours worked under work orders," and "Seoul Metropolitan Government has the obligation to pay Mr. A the overtime pay corresponding to the actual overtime hours worked regardless of the budget limits."

Mr. A, who worked at a fire station in Seoul and retired in 2009, filed a lawsuit in June 2012 claiming that he did not receive proper overtime pay during his tenure.

Mr. A asserted that during the six months immediately before his retirement, Seoul City only partially paid his overtime pay and that he was not compensated for a total of 653 hours of overtime.

On the other hand, Seoul City argued that the overtime pay was paid according to the guidelines for local public officials' compensation management, which stipulate payment within the budget limits, but this was not accepted.

However, the court recognized, based on the records, that the unpaid overtime hours for Mr. A amounted to 509 hours and only partially approved the total claim amount of 5.27 million KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.