'Wage Arrears' Law Firm Lead Attorney... Court Gave Opportunity Instead of Punishment

Wage Arrears (Photo by Getty Images)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A lead attorney of a law office who was prosecuted on charges of withholding workers' wages received a suspended sentence in the first trial. The court showed leniency considering efforts to restore the damages.

According to the legal community on the 16th, Judge Yang Eun-sang of the Criminal Division 18 at the Seoul Central District Court suspended the sentence for attorney Kim, who was indicted for violating the Labor Standards Act. A suspended sentence is a system that postpones the sentencing for a certain period. If the defendant remains incident-free during the suspension period, the sentence is waived. The court stated, "Most of the unpaid wages were paid through the Wage Claim Guarantee Fund, and the defendant deposited the remaining unpaid wages in escrow."

Attorney Kim was prosecuted for withholding wages amounting to 8,560,480 KRW from one worker between April and November 2019. According to the Labor Standards Act, an employer must pay wages and compensation within 14 days from the date the reason for payment arises when a worker retires. Employers who fail to pay wages may face imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million KRW. Although the payment deadline can be extended by mutual agreement, it was found that Attorney Kim did not pay the wages within 14 days without notification.

Considering that the amount of unpaid wages was not large, a fine was expected. However, Attorney Kim avoided punishment by paying 7 million KRW of the unpaid wages through the Wage Claim Guarantee Fund and depositing the remaining 1,564,80 KRW in escrow. Additionally, the fact that he did not dispute the charges and admitted them during the trial was also taken into account in sentencing.

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