"When Will Free Overtime End?"... Widespread Abuse of the Comprehensive Wage System

Office worker working overtime. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] There have been concerns that the comprehensive wage system, which includes overtime pay in the basic salary, is being exploited by companies to force employees into 'free overtime work.'

Workplace Gapjil 119 released a report titled "How the Comprehensive Wage System Creates Free Overtime" on the 13th. The report analyzed 65 cases of workplace comprehensive wage system abuses reported from January to November this year.

According to the report, even in industries with clear working hours, employers frequently used the comprehensive wage system to coerce employees into working overtime. Additionally, to avoid paying extra allowances, employers demanded falsified clock-in and clock-out records, normalizing long working hours and failing to properly compensate for work beyond the agreed hours.

Employers also forced employees to agree to the comprehensive wage system or to sign unfair contracts that included allowances within the agreed annual salary.

Workplace Gapjil 119 pointed out that "the biggest problem with the comprehensive wage system is the normalization of overtime and wage arrears," and noted that the system is being widely abused even in industries where calculating working hours is not difficult. They emphasized the need for legislative measures to prohibit the abuse of the comprehensive wage system and for the Ministry of Employment and Labor to intensively inspect workplaces as part of regulatory efforts.

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