[태그:] administrative interpretation

Unpaid job training time?

Unpaid job training time?

Many overdue payment petitions are submitted to regional employment and labor offices in Korea, related to job training time. Especially in small and medium business, when hiring new employees employers tend to have some period of probationary/trial (Korean Labor Standard Act does not clearly restrict the length of such period, however 3 to 6 months is suggested as reasonable length of time) to give careful considerations before they ‘permantly’ hire someone.

Some employers consider that a training period before these probationary/trial employees are actually allocated to their work can be ‘unpaid’, since the employees do not ‘work’ during the training period that may last from at least a day to a month if more, and in many cases employers even spend quite amount budget on these training programs for inviting lecturers, buying materials, etc.

The conclusion is ‘Employers need to pay salary to their employees at their regular rate for training period’, if:

– the purpose of training is employees’ ‘job’ at the employer’s company

– the training is done during the regular working hours

– attenance is not voluntary (considered mandatory)

Even if the employer argues that the employees knew and agreed that they will be unpaid during such period, it is not legally effective. All articles related to ‘wage’ in the Labor Standard Act (LSA) are compulsory provisions.

Related administrative interpretation of the Ministry of Employment and Labor:

‘Mandatory training time during working hours or outside the hours, related to employees’ job such as operation safety or operation efficiency, must be included as paid working hours.’ (Labor Standard Team 01254-14835, 1988.9.29)

‘Even if an employee signed an agreement accepting that (s)he will not be paid for job training time, employer must pay the employee if such time is legally recognized as working hours’ (Labor Improvement Policy Team-4354, 2012.8.28)