2,705 Cases of Unpaid Holiday, Night, and Overtime Allowances in Five Years... "Only 10% of Reports Lead to Prosecution"

Lee Yongwoo of the Democratic Party:
"Illegal Non-Payment of Overtime Allowances Must Be Strictly Punished"

It has been revealed that even when workers report unpaid extended, night, or holiday allowances-including illegal fixed-sum wage practices-to the Labor Office, only 10% of employers are actually prosecuted in court.

Wage Arrears. Photo by Getty Images

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yongwoo, a member of the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee, there were 2,705 cases reported to the Labor Office for violations of Article 56 of the Labor Standards Act from January 2020 to August of this year.

Article 56 of the Labor Standards Act regulates the non-payment of extended, night, and holiday allowances, including cases of "illegal fixed-sum wages," where the allowances included in a fixed wage are less than what should have been paid for actual overtime work. Article 56 is also used when calculating ordinary wages, which serve as the basis for severance pay.

During this period, the top five industries with the highest number of reported cases of unpaid extended, night, and holiday allowances were as follows: manufacturing (363 cases), accommodation and food services (302 cases), transportation and warehousing (298 cases), health and social welfare services (279 cases), and wholesale and retail trade (247 cases).

By type of violation reported, the most common was non-payment of extended work allowances (1,696 cases), followed by non-payment of holiday work allowances (634 cases), and non-payment of night work allowances (from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., 375 cases).

Only 114 of the reported employers were actually prosecuted in court. Even after excluding cases that were administratively closed due to insufficient evidence of a legal violation (1,400 cases) and those still under review (97 cases), the prosecution rate stands at just 10.3% (114 out of 1,208 cases).

In particular, there was only one case of compulsory investigation-such as search and seizure, arrest, or detention-over the past five and a half years, which occurred in 2023.

Lee Yongwoo, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Provided by the lawmaker's office.

When the Labor Office directly uncovered violations of Article 56 of the Labor Standards Act through workplace inspections, rather than through worker reports, the tendency for lenient punishment was even stronger. Out of 6,987 such violations detected by the Labor Office between January 2020 and August 2025, only 19 cases led to prosecution. There were no compulsory investigations during this period at all.

Although prosecution is the responsibility of prosecutors, labor inspectors at the Labor Office, who serve as special judicial police officers, submit their recommendations on whether to prosecute after prior consultation with the prosecution.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor explained to Lee Yongwoo's office, "Not all reported cases must be prosecuted," adding, "Some cases must be closed because the non-punishment upon objection provision applies."

However, Lee pointed out that even after excluding 392 cases withdrawn under the non-punishment upon objection provision, the rate at which worker reports led to prosecution remained low at 13.9% (114 out of 816 cases).

Lee Yongwoo stated, "Even when employers fail to pay overtime allowances or pay less through illegal fixed-sum wage practices, and workers go through the trouble of reporting, the Labor Office has consistently imposed only lenient penalties. Since extended, night, and holiday allowances are the only mechanism under current law to curb unnecessary overtime, stricter punishment for non-payment is essential."

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