Kumho Tire Partially Loses in 200 Billion KRW Ordinary Wage Lawsuit

Gwangju High Court Recognizes Citation Rate at Approximately 70%

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Kumho Tire has partially lost in the retrial of the so-called "200 billion won wage lawsuit" concerning ordinary wages. In particular, the court ruled that the ordinary wage lawsuit filed by current and former employees against Kumho Tire does not threaten the company's survival to the extent that it violates the "principle of good faith" (principle of good faith).

The Civil Division 3 of the Gwangju High Court held the retrial verdict on the wage lawsuit filed by five current and former Kumho Tire employees on the 16th and ruled partially against Kumho Tire.

The court accepted 27.12 million won out of the 38.59 million won claimed by the five current and former employees as ordinary wages. Accordingly, Kumho Tire was ordered to pay each plaintiff between approximately 2.5 million won and up to 8 million won. The amount concluded this time corresponds to 70% of the total amount claimed by the employees against Kumho Tire.

The court stated, "The regular bonuses paid by Kumho Tire to employees correspond to ordinary wages, and the collective agreement to exclude regular bonuses with the nature of ordinary wages under the Labor Standards Act from ordinary wages is invalid."

It added, "It is difficult to conclude that paying additional allowances causes significant managerial difficulties for the defendant," and "Considering the size of the defendant company and its past experience overcoming crises, the deterioration of management can be seen as a temporary difficulty that can be overcome."

Kumho Tire workers filed a lawsuit in 2013, claiming that the company calculated ordinary wages excluding regular bonuses and paid allowances accordingly.

The first trial partially ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, but the second trial accepted the company's claim that the additional claimed amount far exceeded the existing wages agreed upon by labor and management, potentially threatening the company's survival and violating the principle of good faith, resulting in a ruling against the plaintiffs.

However, the Supreme Court overturned the second trial, ruling in favor of the workers, stating that with annual sales exceeding 2 trillion won and considering net profit and debt trends, it cannot be confidently said that significant managerial difficulties would arise.

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