Working hours and overtime in Korea — the limits bind the employer

"You agreed to it" is the sentence that ends most overtime arguments in Korea. It should not. The caps in the Labor Standards Act are limits on the employer, and an agreement cannot lift them past the number in the statute.

Short answer

Normal hours    40 a week · 8 a day, excluding breaks
Overtime        12 hours a week maximum, and only WITH your agreement
Breaks          30 min for a 4-hour day · 1 hour for an 8-hour day, DURING the shift
Premiums        overtime +50% · night (22:00–06:00) +50%
                holiday +50% up to 8 hours, +100% beyond 8
Penalty         2 years' imprisonment or a 20 million won fine (Art. 110)
                3 years / 30 million for unpaid premiums (Art. 109)

The two numbers

Article 50:

① Working hours shall not exceed 40 hours a week, excluding break time. ② Working hours shall not exceed 8 hours a day, excluding break time. ③ In calculating working hours, waiting time during which the worker is under the employer's direction and supervision for the purpose of work shall be regarded as working hours.

Paragraph 3 is the one worth memorising. Waiting for material, waiting for a line to restart, waiting to be called — if you are under the employer's direction, that is working time, not a break.

Overtime stops at 12 hours a week

Article 53(1):

Where the parties agree, working hours under Article 50 may be extended up to 12 hours a week.

Both halves matter. There must be an agreement, and even with one, 12 hours is the ceiling. "I wanted the extra hours" does not raise it.

Paragraph 4 allows more only with the Minister's authorisation and the worker's consent, in special circumstances; where the situation is urgent, approval must be obtained without delay afterwards. Routine, permanent excess is not this.

The provision letting workplaces with fewer than 30 employees add 8 more hours (paragraph 3) was valid until 31 December 2022 under the supplementary provisions.

Breaks — two conditions, not one

Article 54:

① The employer shall give a break of not less than 30 minutes for 4 hours of work, or not less than 1 hour for 8 hours of work, during working hours. ② Break time may be used freely by the worker.

So a break must be in the middle of the shift — not tacked onto the end to send you home earlier — and it must be free. If you must stay at your station or answer a call, Article 50(3) turns it back into working time.

The premiums

Article 56:

① Overtime work                    at least 50% of ordinary wage, added
② Holiday work, first 8 hours      50% of ordinary wage
   Holiday work, beyond 8 hours    100% of ordinary wage
③ Night work, 22:00 to 06:00       at least 50% of ordinary wage, added

They stack. Overtime worked at 11 p.m. carries the overtime premium and the night premium. A payslip that adds only one of them for a night shift is short.

The base is ordinary wage (통상임금), not your total pay — a separate calculation your payslip should show.

Article 57 lets the employer give compensatory leave instead of paying, but only by written agreement with the workers' representative. A verbal deal with you personally is not that.

Weekly paid holiday

Article 55(1) — the employer shall guarantee at least one paid holiday a week, on average. Paragraph 2 extends paid status to holidays prescribed by Presidential Decree, which may be swapped for a specific working day by written agreement with the workers' representative.

We have not read the Decree's list of those holidays, so we do not print it. Ask 1350.

What happens to an employer who breaks these

Article 110(1)   Art. 50, 53(1)(2), 54, 55, 60(1)(2)(4)(5)
                 → up to 2 years' imprisonment or a 20 million won fine
Article 109(1)   Art. 56 (premiums), Art. 36 (settlement on leaving), Art. 43 (wages)
                 → up to 3 years' imprisonment or a 30 million won fine

Unpaid premiums are punished more heavily than excess hours.

Article 109(2) adds that wage-related prosecutions cannot proceed against the victim's express wishes — so whether a complaint goes forward is partly yours to decide. The exception is an employer already named on the published list of wage defaulters who offends again during the publication period.

What to keep

1  Your own record of start and finish times. Without it, it is your word against theirs.
2  Note waiting time separately — Article 50(3) makes it count.
3  Check that the payslip splits overtime, night and holiday into separate lines.
4  Keep the written agreement, if any, that authorised extended hours.

Frequently asked questions

I signed a contract agreeing to unlimited overtime. Article 53(1) caps extension at 12 hours a week. A contract clause does not override the statute; what you signed cannot make 20 hours lawful.

My pay is "inclusive of allowances", so no overtime is added. Whatever the contract calls it, if the total falls short of what Article 56 requires, the difference is still owed.

Does waiting at the dormitory count? The test is direction and supervision. If you must respond immediately when called, there is a real argument that it is working time — raise it with 1350.

Who do I contact? The Ministry of Employment and Labour on 1350, which offers foreign-language counselling.

Sources

Labor Standards Act (근로기준법)
   [in force 2026-08-20] [Act No. 21373, amended 2026-02-19]
   Art. 50 (working hours) · Art. 53 (limit on extended work) · Art. 54 (breaks)
   Art. 55 (holidays) · Art. 56 (overtime, night and holiday work)
   Art. 57 (compensatory leave) · Art. 109, Art. 110 (penalties)
   https://www.law.go.kr/법령/근로기준법

Ministry of Employment and Labour: 1350