The government expands overtime management units to semi-annual and yearly periods.

The allowable period for the optional work system will be increased to three months and a working time savings account system will be introduced.

The government held an emergency economic ministerial meeting today (3th) at the Seoul Government Building, presided over by Deputy Prime Minister Chu Kyung-ho and Minister of Planning and Finance.

Vice Premier Chu said, "We will expand the overtime management unit, which is currently limited to the weekly unit, to monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and annual units to strengthen the choice of industrial sites."

He said, "We will increase flexibility by extending the allowable period of the optional work system, in which workers freely decide their commute time, from one month to three months, and allowing them to change the predetermined working hours after the fact, even if they work flexibly within three months to reflect the demand of industrial sites."

"We will also expand a system that guarantees a sufficient period of rest, such as the introduction of a working time savings account system in which workers choose between overtime pay and extra leave," Chu said.

Safeguards have also been put in place to ensure that workers do not suffer from excessive overtime during the reorganization of the working hour system.

Vice Premier Chu announced, "When overtime is expanded, we will make it mandatory to introduce measures to protect workers' right to health, and we will also come up with measures to protect night workers."

He said, "We will codify the authority and selection process of workers' representatives, which have not been clearly stipulated in the labor legislation, so that the will of workers can be reflected as much as possible in labor-management consultations on working conditions such as working hours."

Vice Premier Chu said, "We will focus on making the relevant laws and systems more flexible so that working hours can be concentrated when necessary only if agreed by labor, and rest and vacation can be more freely rested when you want to rest."

Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-jeong said, "The government intends to advance the 6-year-old factory-based labor law system of 1 in line with global standards and build a new paradigm of working hours in which universal guarantees of the right to choice, health, and rest are the goals of the system."

He explained, "To this end, we will revamp the working hour system within four major frameworks: expanding working hour options, strengthening the protection of workers' health rights, guaranteeing the right to rest through the activation of leave, and expanding flexible working methods."

(Photo = Yonhap News)