The main culprit of 'free overtime' comprehensive wage system... Prepare comprehensive measures to prevent abuse

Mr. A, a programmer at an information technology (IT) developer, works until close to midnight on a daily basis.

His colleagues complained about working overtime, saying that their biorhythms are messed up, but Mr. A is relatively accepting, saying that there are unavoidable aspects due to the nature of work in the industry.

What makes Mr. A difficult is that he is not compensated financially for his work even though he works late into the night.

The company he belongs to applies an inclusive wage system.

Mr. A complained, "He has never received overtime pay or weekend overtime pay properly."

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor today (19th), the comprehensive wage system is a form of contract in which the allowance is included in the salary in advance when it is difficult to accurately calculate the additional work allowance due to the type of work or the nature of the work.

Overtime, nighttime, and holiday work are pre-determined under an agreement between labor and management, and a certain amount of allowance is included in the basic wage and paid every month.

According to Supreme Court precedents and administrative interpretations of the Ministry of Labor, even if a wage payment contract is concluded under the comprehensive wage system, unless it is difficult to calculate working hours, the principle of wage payment according to working hours under the Labor Standards Act must be followed.

However, the reality is not so, and the comprehensive wage system is regarded as the main culprit of 'free overtime' and 'overtime.

According to the civic group Workplace Gapjil 119, some unscrupulous business owners include annual allowances and severance pay in their comprehensive wages.

As such problems have been revealed one after another, some workplaces have recently eliminated the comprehensive wage system according to labor-management agreements.

Kakao and each affiliate initially operated an inclusive wage system, but abolished it one after another through labor-management consultations after complaints of fatigue from employees working without overtime pay.

The inclusive wage system is attracting attention again because the Future Labor Market Research Association, an expert group for labor market reform, recommended the government to strengthen labor supervision to prevent misuse and abuse of the inclusive wage system.

In a recommendation issued on the 12th, the research association pointed out that "the comprehensive wage agreement that does not consider actual working hours is being abused and abused, causing problems with long working hours and free labor."

On the 15th, three days later, Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jung-sik urged improvement, saying that at a meeting with the '2030 Advisory Group' held at a pub in Jongno-gu, Seoul, a young participant said, "I am suffering from free overtime work because of the comprehensive wage."

The Ministry of Labor accepted this opinion and started preparing comprehensive measures.

The Ministry of Labor plans to make a concrete labor market reform promotion plan that largely reflects the recommendations of the research group related to the wage system and working hour system, and announce it early next year at the latest.

(Photo = Yonhap News)