The Ulsan East Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor uncovered 223 labor law violations during a two-month intensive inspection campaign since the branch's opening, ordering employers to immediately pay 550 million won ($400,000) in unpaid wages.
The branch said Sunday that inspections carried out at 57 workplaces in the region in May and June confirmed 223 violations of the Labor Standards Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, and the Act on the Protection of Fixed-Term and Part-Time Workers.
The most common violations included failure to record mandatory information in employment contracts and pay stubs, breaches of the 52-hour weekly overtime limit, and non-payment of overtime, night-shift and holiday allowances.
One workplace stood out for having underpaid overtime, night-shift and holiday allowances for years by excluding fixed monthly allowances from the ordinary wage base used to calculate statutory pay. Under labor law, regularly and consistently paid allowances must be included in ordinary wage calculations, but the employer had omitted them, resulting in systematic underpayment. A company official said the practice had been followed out of habit and that no employees had raised concerns, so management had not recognized it as unlawful.
The branch ordered the employer to promptly pay the outstanding allowances and issued administrative guidance requiring a full overhaul of the wage calculation system.
The branch said it plans to continue labor inspections in the second half of the year, focusing on workplaces prone to wage arrears and those employing large numbers of vulnerable workers. It will also hold a series of labor law briefing sessions for small businesses.
"We will work to protect the rights of local workers and spread a culture of compliance with labor law by bringing our administration closer to the ground," branch chief Kim Sang-jung said.
fact0514@heraldcorp.com
