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South Korean Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jae-gap announces the government’s supplementary measures on grace periods for the 52-hour workweek at the Central Government Complex in Seoul on Dec. 11.

With roughly three weeks left before the implementation of a maximum 52-hour workweek for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs, businesses with 50-299 full-time workers), the South Korean government is proposing a grace period of up to 18 months for punishments of employers in violation of it. It also announced plans to allow not just SMEs but also large corporations that have already introduced 52-hour workweeks to extend employees’ working hours based on terms that are open to arbitrary interpretation, such as “cases where the businesses would suffer major hindrances or damages from being unable to process an atypically large increase in volume during a short period of time.”

With many critics contending that the government has effectively abandoned its policy efforts to reduce working hours, South Korea’s two major labor confederations announced plans for a Constitutional Court appeal and other legal measures.

In a Dec. 11 briefing at the Central Government Complex in Seoul, Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jae-kap explained, “As the regular session of the National Assembly comes to an end, the likelihood of supplementary legislation to improve the flexible working system has become unclear.”

“Supplementary measures by the government will be unavoidable to ensure successful implementation of the 52-hour workweek for businesses with 50 to 299 employees,” he said.

“We have decided to grant [the businesses] a one-year guidance period and a remedy period of up to six months,” he announced. During the “guidance period,” the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) will not be conducting labor oversight to check for the companies’ observance of the 52-hour limit; in cases where violations of the law are discovered, it plans to only demand “remedial action” without punishment for a period of up to six months. With what amounts to an 18-month grace period for SMEs that have their workers work over 52 hours a week, the law may as well not even exist during that time.

Lee also announced a “plan to permit special extended working hours for all companies, including large businesses, in cases of large workload increases as well as research and development duties that affect national competitiveness and the national economy.” Current enforcement rules for the Labor Standards Act only permit special extended working hours without restriction in “cases of recovery from an incident corresponding to a natural disaster or catastrophe.”

Citing the “growing need to recognize a broader range of grounds [for extending working hours] to ensure the successful establishment of the 52-hour workweek,” the government also plans to permit special extended working hours in cases that involve protection of human life and security, emergency measures for unexpected situations such as infrastructure and facility malfunctions, severe hindrances or damages to businesses that are unable to process a large increase in workload over a short period of time, and research duties for materials and components that are necessary for increased national competitiveness and development of the national economy. MOEL plans to issue a legislation pre-announcement for Labor Standards Act enforcement regulations including these new provisions.

The problem is that the administration’s “supplementary measures” are likely to prevent the purported goal of “ensuring successful implementation of the 52-hour workweek,” effectively neutralizing the working hour reduction policies themselves. A list of exceptions to justify special extended working hours included “unavoidable extended working hours for bus drivers due to sudden traffic congestion,” “observance of tight deadlines due to sudden orders from contractors,” “large-scale recalls,” and “transportation measures after the occurrence of accidents to prevent secondary damages.” These could lead to accusations from critics that the Moon Jae-in administration is prioritizing the convenience of employers who rely on long hours from their workers -- without attempting more fundamental resolutions to issues such as the abusive practices of contractors that routinely assign impossibly tight deadlines to their subcontractors, or the need for increased hiring and route scheduling adjustments by bus companies in anticipation of regular traffic congestion.

Delaying the implementation of the 52-hour workweek for SMEs essentially disregards the widening gap in not only wages, but also working hours and break time, between SMEs and conglomerates.

Labor activists unanimously slammed the government for, in their view, abandoning the campaign for a shorter workweek. “The government has surrendered to the chaebols and conservative forces and is exploiting administrative measures to sabotage the working conditions guaranteed by the law,” the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said in a press conference, while calling for the resignation of Labor Minister Lee Jae-gap.

The Federation of Korean Trade Unions offered a similar response. “In July of last year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said that allowing special overtime for business reasons didn’t conform to the purpose of reducing working hours, but in the space of a year and half, the Ministry has done a complete 180. This won’t be agreeable or acceptable to anyone.”

Both of the unions have promised to file constitutional petitions and lawsuits if the enforcement decree for the Labor Standards Act is revised.

“It’s unconstitutional for the government to use an enforcement decree to extend the maximum 52 hours set by law. Allowing extensive reasons for assigning special overtime gives the labor minister discretion of whether the 52-hour workweek will be enforced, which represents a severe overreach of his authority,” said Lee Jeong-mi, a lawmaker with the Justice Party on the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee.

While business leaders are happy to get a breather, they’re also disappointed that they didn’t achieve more of their demands. This past August, the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) had asked the government to revise the enforcement decree of the Labor Standards Act to expand the permitted bounds of special overtime to include “unavoidable business matters,” to extend the grace period for conglomerates, and to delay implementation for SMEs.

After achieving some of its wishes, the KEF released a statement on Wednesday. “By giving SMEs a grace period and expanding the justifiable reasons for special overtime, the government has given companies some room to maneuver. But the fact that they must still receive the consent of individual workers and permission from the government on each occasion creates uncertainty, since [permission for special overtime] is given at the government’s discretion,” the KEF said.

By Seom Dam-eun, Kim Kyung-rak, and Choi Min-young, staff reporters

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