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According to Article 50 of the Labor Standards Act, work hours should not exceed 40 hours a week. Based on this, the average monthly fixed work hours were calculated as follows: ◎ The monthly average number of weeks in a year is 4.345 weeks (365 days ÷ 7 days ÷ 12 months). Including eight work hours per day and eight hours of weekly holiday, the total work hours comes to 48 hours per week. Therefore, if the monthly average number of weeks is multiplied with 48 hours per week, the total monthly work hours comes to 208.59 hours (4.345 X 48 = 208.56). In other words, the hourly minimum wage was calculated based on 209 hours of statutory monthly work hours.

A probation period can be established in the labor contract to give the company time to test the capabilities of the new employee. In general, probation refers to "a form of labor in which a definitive labor contract has been established, and the purpose of which is to promote work skills and capabilities." The Labor Standards Act is also fully applied to probationary employees, and they can only be dismissed if there is a valid reason. ◎ The Labor Standards Act does not stipulate separately on the training period. However, based on subparagraph 1 of Article 26 of the Labor Standards Act, "where the period during which the employee has worked continuously is less than three months", the obligation to provide a 30 day advance dismissal notice is not applied. As a result, a probation period of three months is set in most cases.

In Article 23(1) of the Labor Standards Act, it is prescribed that "An employer shall not, without justifiable cause, dismiss, lay off, suspend, or transfer an employee, reduce his/her wages, or take other punitive measures (hereinafter referred to as "unfair dismissal, etc.") against him/her." ◎ Therefore, for the dismissal to be justified, there must be an accountable reason "that prohibits the continued service of the employee according to social norm." This is judged based on various overall circumstances, such as the purpose of the punitive measures, nature of the business, status of the employee, and the motivation for engaging in inappropriate behavior, and whether the order of the company has been disrupted. ◎ In addition, as per subparagraph 12 of Article 93 of the Labor Standards Act, the rules of employment must prescribe "matters regarding reward and punishment". In terms of procedure, they can have legitimacy only when they are impartially exercised according to the prescriptions made by an institution of authority in a collective agreement or rules of employment. ◎ Poor work attitude is generally a behavior in which the employee does not focus on his/her work and undermines efficiency or production. Of course, poor work attitude and negative performance alone can not be sufficient reasons for the employee to be subject to punitive treatment. However, when the employee continues to show lack of diligence or improvement despite numerous instructions for correction and orders for participation in training, he/she could be subject to punitive measures.

Article 8(2) of the Act on the Guarantee of Employees' Retirement Benefits stipulates that "Any employer may, upon request by an employee due to a ground prescribed by Presidential Decree, pay such employee a retirement allowance for his/her continuous service period prior to his/her retirement. In such cases, the continuous service period to be used for the calculation of the amount of a retirement allowance accumulated thereafter shall be reckoned anew from the time when the balance is settled." ◎ "Grounds prescribed by Presidential Decree" (as in Article 3 of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Guarantee of Employees' Retirement Benefits) are as follows: 1. Where an employee who is a non-homeowner purchases a house in his/her own name 2. Where an employee who is a non-homeowner pays a tenancy deposit under Article 303 of the Civil Act or a security deposit under Article 3-2 of the Housing Lease Protection Act for residential purposes. In such cases, the number of such occurrences shall be limited to one time while the employee works in the same business 3. Where an employee pays the medical care costs incurred for convalescence from illness or injury of any of the folowing persons, which requires at least six months of convalescence: a. The employee himself/herself b. The spouse of the employee c. The family members dependent on the employee or on the spouse of the employee 4. Where an employee is declared bankrupt pursuant to the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act within five years retroactively from the date he/she applies for interim settlement of a retirement allowance 5. Where an employee receives a decision to commence individual rehabilitation procedures pursuant to the Debtor Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy Act within five years counted retroactively from the date he/she applies for interim settlement of a retirement allowance 6. Where an employer implements a system of reducing wages based on a particular age, length of consecutive service, or amount of wage through a collective agreement, employment rules, etc. on the condition of extending or guaranteeing the current full retirement age 6-2. Where an employer has changed an employee’s contractual working hours by at least one hour a day or five hours a week under agreement with the employee, and the employee has agreed to continue to work for at least three months based on the changed contractual working hours 6-3. Where an employee receives a reduced retirement allowance due to shortened working hours as the Labor Standards Act (No. 15513) enters into force 7. Other cases falling under the grounds and requirements determined and publicly notified by the Minister of Employment and Labor, such as where damage is caused by a natural disaster, etc. ◎ In addition, the following special conditions must be met for interim settlement: ① Interim settlement of severance pay is possible "only when there is such a demand from the employee." When there is no such demand from the employee, the employer’s unilateral payment of severance pay as interim settlement is not effective. ② There must be approval by the employer for interim settlement of severance pay. The employer is not obligated to make an interim settlement of severance pay, and he/she can refuse the demand of the employee for mid-term settlement when there are justifiable business reasons to do so. ※ When severance pay has been settled mid-term with the consent of the employer, in order to pay the remaining severance pay, the number of continuous years of service must be calculated anew from the time of interim settlement. Even if the severance pay has been settled mid-term, the employee has not actually left the company. Therefore, interim settlement of severance pay will not affect the calculation of the employee’s continuous service period for HR management such as calculation of annual paid leave days, certification of career, or promotions.

Resignation is the termination of labor services due to the unilateral expression of such an intent by the employee. This can be divided into voluntary retirement, agreed retirement and mandatory retirement due to reaching the retirement age. There are no provisions in the Labor Standards Act in regard to the retirement procedure. When the parties concerned did not stipulate the related regulations in the rules of employment, collective agreement, etc., the provisions of the Civil Act shall apply. ◎ According to the Civil Act, when the employee expresses his intention to resign (submission of letter of resignation) and the employer accepts (acceptance of letter of resignation), the resignation becomes effective when the employer accepts the letter of resignation. ◎ If the company does not accept the letter of resignation of the employee, the point at which the resignation becomes effective shall differ according to the method in which the wages are paid. When the wages are paid on a term-basis, such as monthly, and if, after the term in which the resignation has been submitted (that month, in the case of monthly payment system), one wage payment term (meaning the next month) has passed, the resignation becomes effective. When wages are not paid on a term-basis, the effect begins when one month has passed after the employer receives notification from the employee of his/her will to resign.

Article 26 of the Labor Standards Act prescribes that when an employer intends to dismiss an employee (including dismissal for management reasons), he/she shall give the employee a notice of dismissal at least 30 days in advance of such dismissal, and, if the employer fails to give such advance notice, he/she shall pay such employee 30 days' ordinary wage at the least. ◎ The period for advance notice of dismissal must be calculated based on calendar days instead of working days, and therefore cannot be extended even when there is a holiday. When calculating, the first day is not included and calculation shall begin from the following day based on calendar days. If even one day is lacking during the legal period for advance notification of dismissal, regular wages pertaining to 30 days - the entire statutory period - or more must be paid.

According to Article 61 of the Labor Standards Act, the employer is to inform each employee of unused paid leave, and urge the employee in written form to notify the period for using the leave. The employee that has received such a notice/letter must determine the period for using the leave, and if he/she does not, the employer shall prescribe the period for using the unused paid leave, and notify the employee "in written form". ◎ The regulation that the employer must urge or notify the employee in "written form" is to ensure that measures to promote the use of paid leave are surely implemented, and the intention is to strengthen protection of workers' rights and prevent conflict between parties due to unclear measures. Notifying employees with use of intra-company email, or posting official notifications on the non-used paid leave of each employee on the company bulletin board cannot be recognized as clear measures in comparison to urging or notifying "in written form" to each individual employee. ※Measures to urge or notify the use of paid leave is not an obligation for the employer. Therefore, when the employer has not taken measures to urge or notify the use of paid leave, and the employee does not designate a period for using paid leave and does not use the paid leave, annual paid leave allowance must be paid for the unused leave.

Holidays can be divided into legal holidays and contractual holidays according to whether it is legally binding for the employer to grant them or not. Legal holidays include weekends, Labor Day, and public holidays of government offices. Holidays for government offices include national holidays, and are granted to public servants. Consequently, in the case of private companies, company regulations and collective agreements have been used to establish contractual holidays. ◎ On March 20, 2018, the Labor Standards Act was revised, so that holidays can apply identically to private companies. However, it shall be implemented phase-by-phase according to the size of the company. Companies with at least 300 full time employees: January 1, 2020 Companies with 30-299 employees: January 1, 2021 Companies with 5-29 employees: January 1, 2022

The Designation of Workers' Day Act prescribes that "The first day of May each year shall be designated as Workers' Day, which shall be a paid holiday under the Labor Standards Act." ◎ A "paid holiday" is a day on which there is no obligation to provide labor service, while receiving a payment that would have been received if the labor had been accomplished. ◎ When labor is provided on Workers' Day, a paid holiday, an additional 150 percent of pay for holiday labor shall be made in addition to the wage (100 percent) that would have been paid out, even if there was no labor service on that day, as per Article 56 of the Labor Standards Act. ※ “Workers' Day” is a legal holiday, and is prescribed as a special day to commemorate a certain fact, and therefore this holiday cannot be replaced with another day.

According to Article 54 of the Labor Standards Act, an employer shall allow employees a recess of not less than 30 minutes where work hours are four hours, and a recess of not less than one hour where work hours are eight hours. Recess hours may be freely used by employees. ◎ According to the Labor Standards Act, "recess" refers to break time, waiting time, etc., during which the employee leaves the sphere of instruction and monitoring by the employer and spends the time freely. ◎ If the employee leaves the sphere of instruction and monitoring by the employer and spends the break time as he/she wishes, lunch time can be regarded as recess.