"One-Hour Overtime Deduction for Part-Time Public Officials Ruled Discriminatory"... Ministry of Personnel Management Loses Successive Lawsuits

Part-Time Public Officials Union: "Apology Needed for 8 Years of Passive Administration"
Union Demands System Reform from Ministry of Personnel Management

The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the practice of deducting one hour from the overtime worked by part-time public officials during their regular working hours, in the same way as for full-time public officials, is contrary to the constitutional principle of equality.

According to the National Part-Time Public Officials Labor Union (Chairperson: Jung Seonghye) on June 5, the Supreme Court delivered a ruling (2021Du61741) on May 29, and another ruling (2022Du31105) on June 5, both with the same conclusion. The Court stated that deducting one hour from the overtime performed by part-time public officials between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., in the same manner as for full-time public officials, constitutes unreasonable discrimination without rational justification.

On this day, the labor union issued a statement welcoming the Supreme Court's decision and strongly criticized the Ministry of Personnel Management. The union asserted, "It is clearly unreasonable to calculate only three hours of work for someone who actually worked four hours and pay wages accordingly," and argued, "Even at a 2018 meeting, we requested an improvement to the system, but the Ministry of Personnel Management effectively told us to resolve the issue through litigation."

The union pointed out that the Ministry of Personnel Management, which is in charge of proactive administration, instead displayed a textbook case of passive administration. The union stated that the Ministry engaged in 'deskbound administration' by adhering to unreasonable work practices, 'neglect of duties' by delaying improvements despite repeated calls for change, and 'convenient expedience' by shifting responsibility through litigation.

The union demanded an official apology from the Ministry of Personnel Management and called for the immediate correction of the one-hour deduction system. Additionally, the union urged a comprehensive review of all discriminatory systems related to part-time public officials—including promotion, allowances, benefits, and extension of working hours—as well as improvements to staffing management and the total personnel cost system to effectively guarantee the expansion to a 40-hour workweek.

This lawsuit was filed by the union in July 2018 after several requests for system improvement to the Ministry of Personnel Management were rejected. After eight years, it has finally led to a Supreme Court decision. Part-time public officials are general service employees who work between 15 and 35 hours per week and are guaranteed job security until retirement. The current overtime allowance system was designed based on full-time public officials, deducting one hour from overtime before payment is made.

The Supreme Court found that the one-hour deduction rule for full-time public officials was established to account for meal and break times when working overtime after regular hours, and therefore has a different nature from the overtime performed by part-time public officials within their regular working hours.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.