Article 93 of the Labor Standards Act of Korea (“LSA”) requires an employer with at least 10 employees to prepare and maintain rules of employment, and as the rules of employment intend to uniformly regulate rules of employment as to all employees, the rules of employment become part of the employment relationship between the employer and the employees.

It is noted that LSA and its enforcement decrees thereto provide for the matters pertaining to work conditions which employers are required to specify to employees at the time of hiring, but there is no written specification requirement for such matters other than the composition, calculation method and payment method of wages, which matters must at least be specified in writing. In light of the foregoing requirement, the usual practice done by the Korean employers meeting the 10-employee threshold is that the employers would specify to an employee at the time of hiring, whether orally or in writing, the items specific to the employee such as the place of work and content of work assignment, and specify all other work condition matters in the relevant (written) employment rules or regulations (i.e., holidays, annual paid-leave, sick leave, etc.).

In addition, Article 94 of LSA has provisions pertaining to modification procedures of the rules of employment, and it is prescribed under Article 94 that in case of modifying the rules of employment in a way that would be disadvantageous to the employees, such modification would require consent from labor union (if there is such union formed by a majority of the employees), or, if there is no labor union, consent from a majority of employees would be required for the said modification. If any modification of the rules of employment that would be disadvantageous to the employees is done without satisfying the consent requirement, the rules of employment so modified would be rendered null, as well as the relevant employer and the HR personnel being subject to a fine of up to 5 million KRW (Articles 114 and 115 of LSA).

For any questions on Korean law requirements on the rules of employment, please contact Mr. Keun Dong Lee, Esq. at leekd@sigonglaw.com.