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The government is launching a planned inspection focused on workplaces that employ large numbers of young workers to crack down on the misuse and abuse of comprehensive wage systems. The aim is to correct unfair practices such as "unpaid overtime" and to help establish a wage system in which workers are compensated for the actual hours they work.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 25th that starting on the 26th, it will carry out a "planned inspection on the misuse and abuse of comprehensive wage systems" for about two months, targeting around 100 workplaces in services, information and communications (IT)·software, and video·content industries, where the share of young employees is high.

This measure comes in response to mounting social controversy as cases continue to surface, particularly in service industries such as food and accommodation, confectionery and baking, as well as IT firms, where employers either fail to pay sufficient overtime, night, and holiday premiums, or reduce and evade statutory allowances by paying fixed extra allowances that are unrelated to actual working hours.

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This inspection will focus on whether allowances based on actual working hours have been properly paid under the pretext of a comprehensive wage system, and on whether working hours are properly recorded and managed. The ministry plans to comprehensively check whether mandatory entries in wage ledgers and payroll systems are being observed, whether employment contracts are consistent with pay statements, whether overtime, night, and holiday working hours are calculated appropriately, and whether these calculations match the wages actually paid. In particular, it will use timesheets and attendance management systems to calculate actual working hours and closely examine whether the corresponding statutory allowances have been paid.

If any legal violations are identified through the inspection, the authorities will take strict action in accordance with the relevant laws, including criminal charges or the imposition of fines. At the same time, for workplaces that show a willingness to improve their systems, the government will provide workplace innovation and win-win consulting and support linked with private HR platforms to encourage a transition to a more rational wage structure. The government will continue routine inspections based on the inspection criteria and, in parallel, will soon prepare and distribute detailed operational guidelines to minimize confusion on the ground.

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In addition, the authorities will strengthen both preliminary investigations and follow-up management through the anonymous reporting center. Workplaces reported via the anonymous channel, which is operated to protect workers concerned about revealing their identity, will be classified as suspected cases of misuse or abuse of comprehensive wage systems and will be subject to ad hoc inspections or included in the second-half planned inspection list, thereby tightening oversight. The government also intends to simultaneously promote the institutionalization of transparent recording and management of actual working hours and the improvement of fixed-allowance pay schemes, so that these labor-management reform tasks can take root in workplaces.

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Younghoon said, "We will no longer turn a blind eye to the abusive practice of failing to record and manage actual working hours or to pay statutory allowances under the pretext of comprehensive wage systems," adding, "Even before new legislation is passed, we will use all available administrative resources to correct unfair practices and ensure that a labor culture in which people are fairly compensated for the work they do takes firm root in workplaces."