Daily Four-Hour Overtime Cap for Civil Servants Abolished; Allowances to Be Paid for Hours Actually Worked Starting Next Month

[Financial News]  


The cap on overtime allowances for civil servants, which previously recognized up to four hours per day, will be abolished. Starting next month, civil servants will be able to receive allowances for the actual hours they work, even if they work more than four hours in a day. However, the monthly limit of 57 hours for overtime allowance payments will remain in place to prevent excessively long working hours.
The Ministry of Personnel Management announced that the State Council of South Korea approved on the 15th an amendment to the Regulations on Allowances for Public Officials and Others. The amendment will take effect on the first day of next month.
The biggest change is the abolition of the daily cap on overtime allowance payments. Currently, even when civil servants work more than four hours of overtime in a day, they can receive allowances for no more than four hours. Under the amendment, this restriction will be removed, and allowances will be paid based on the actual hours of overtime worked.
However, the amount of overtime eligible for allowances will remain limited to a maximum of 57 hours per month, as it is now. The monthly safeguard will remain in place to prevent excessively long working hours while ensuring compensation based on actual hours worked.
The separate cap applied when urgent issues arose will also disappear. Currently, civil servants may exceptionally receive overtime allowances for up to 100 hours per month, but this limit will be abolished once the amendment takes effect. Approval authority for such exceptions will also be lowered from the relevant minister to officials at the bureau or office director level, allowing a faster response to emergencies.
A new form of compensation will be introduced for Grade 4 public officials in general positions who handle practical duties ahead of promotion to department head. They will receive an overtime compensation allowance equivalent to 25 hours per month.
Until now, national Grade 4 public officials received a management-duty allowance even when they were not department heads, but they were not eligible for overtime allowances. Going forward, the head of each agency may designate recipients of the compensation allowance in advance and provide the payments.
While overtime allowances will be paid properly, oversight and penalties for false or fraudulent claims will be strengthened. Officials will be required to record whether they are actually working at regular intervals during their shifts in electronic personnel-management systems such as e-saram or Insarang, and department heads will verify the records. Supervisory and management responsibilities will be strengthened not only for the officials who work overtime but also for their managers.
The threshold for requesting disciplinary action over fraudulent receipt will also be lowered. Currently, disciplinary action must be requested only when fraudulent receipt is detected at least twice. Under the new rules, it will be mandatory after even one fraudulent claim if the amount is KRW 500,000 or more.
The Enforcement Rules of the Disciplinary Decree for Public Officials will also be amended to increase the level of discipline for fraudulent receipt. The threshold for enhanced disciplinary measures will be lowered from the current KRW 1 million to KRW 500,000 or more. Fraudulent receipt of overtime allowances will also be explicitly included in the criteria for holding supervisors accountable, allowing action to be taken against managers who fail to properly oversee fraudulent claims by their staff.

[email protected] Bomi Lee Reporter