Democratic Party lawmaker pushes bill to let firms pay bonuses in local currency vouchers

Rep. Park Min-gyu of the Democratic Party of Korea said Wednesday he had introduced a bill to amend the Labor Standards Act that would allow companies to pay a portion of performance bonuses in local currency vouchers.

The proposed amendment would allow wages to be paid in forms other than cash — with workers' consent at the time of signing an employment contract — and explicitly names local love gift certificates, a type of regional currency voucher, as one permissible form.

The local love gift certificate system is designed to build a virtuous economic cycle in local communities by protecting small businesses and traditional markets and encouraging income earned locally to be reinvested within the same region.

Park said the bill was prompted by the surge in large corporate bonuses that drew public attention amid a recent boom in the semiconductor industry, and aims to create a legal basis for channeling those bonuses into local economies through regional currency vouchers. He also noted that some local communities have raised concerns that foreign workers tend to remit a large share of their wages abroad, limiting the economic ripple effect within those areas.

"The amendment, premised on the explicit consent of workers, would allow a portion of wages to be paid in local love gift certificates," Park said. "The goal is to create a virtuous cycle in which corporate profits — and the bonuses and performance pay that flow from them — contribute to revitalizing local economies."

He added that if the amendment takes effect, local governments could step up to forge agreements with businesses and labor groups and offer incentives, generating models of mutual benefit for workers and local communities alike.