“No overtime pay, even after working late” ... 7 in 10 workers doing “unpaid overtime” say, “Abolish the inclusive wage system”

[Financial News] Three in 10 workers were found to not receive proper pay for all the hours they work, despite working late or putting in overtime.

According to Yonhap News Agency and other outlets, the incorporated association Gabjil 119 announced on the 1st the results of a survey it commissioned polling firm Global Research to conduct from September 1 to 7. The survey covered 1,000 workers aged 19 and older nationwide and asked about “overtime premium pay and perceptions of the inclusive wage system.”
Asked whether they receive premium pay for all overtime, holiday, and night work at their current workplace, 44.9% said yes and 30.7% said no, according to the survey.
Among the 307 respondents who said they did not receive premium pay, the most common reason was “the use of the inclusive wage system” (38.4%). This was followed by “it is not paid as a matter of custom” (20.2%) and “premium pay is provided, but there is a cap” (19.9%).
The inclusive wage system is a method of including statutory allowances, such as overtime pay, in base salary or paying them as a fixed allowance, regardless of the actual hours worked. As a result, workers often do not receive proper pay even when they work overtime, prompting concerns that so-called “unpaid labor” could become widespread.

In this survey, only 8.5% of respondents said they receive additional pay when they work beyond the overtime hours stipulated under the inclusive wage system. A total of 69.1% said they do not receive it. Among the latter, 38.8% said they sometimes work more than the stipulated hours, 10.5 percentage points higher than the 28.3% who said they work only the stipulated hours.
A total of 71.1% of respondents said the inclusive wage system should be prohibited, while 28.3% said they agreed with it.
Park Eun-ha, a labor attorney with Gabjil 119, pointed out, “This shows that the inclusive wage system undermines fair compensation for overtime and acts as a factor contributing to so-called ‘unpaid overtime.’” She stressed, “To fundamentally prevent the misuse and abuse of the inclusive wage system, it should be prohibited, and a clear legal basis should be established for calculating and paying wages according to actual hours worked.”
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