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View of Samsung Display Asan Campus. (Photo=Samsung Display) |
[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Jisun] In a wage lawsuit filed by 3,850 current and former employees against Samsung Display, the court has ruled that "fixed overtime pay is part of regular wages" and ordered the company to pay approximately 4 billion KRW in unpaid wages.
The Suwon District Court's Civil Division 17, led by Judge Maeng Jun-young, stated today (30th) that in the wage lawsuit filed by Samsung Display employees in 2020, the court ruled that "fixed overtime pay should be included in regular wages, and the company must pay approximately 4 billion KRW in unpaid statutory allowances (for overtime, night work, holidays, and extended holidays)."
The court explained, "The defendant company has uniformly paid an amount equivalent to 20% of the base salary as fixed overtime pay or self-development expenses, regardless of whether the employees were on a monthly salary or hourly wage basis. The fixed overtime pay is similar in nature to self-development expenses and is managed in the same way as regular wages."
It further stated, "Even if the personnel regulations specify the name as 'fixed overtime pay' and the calculation method as '20 hours of weekday overtime,' the defendant company, being in a superior position, has the ability to revise regulations and employment contracts in its favor. Therefore, simply specifying it as such does not automatically exclude the fixed overtime pay from being considered as part of regular wages."
Samsung Display argued that previous rulings in wage lawsuits involving other affiliates had found that "fixed overtime pay does not constitute regular wages," and contended that fixed overtime pay should not be considered part of regular wages. However, this argument was not accepted by the court.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
