Workplace Harassment 119, Global Research polling
Seven in 10 workers oppose the all-inclusive wage system, a new survey shows, with many reporting they work beyond their contracted overtime hours without receiving additional pay.
Workplace Harassment 119, a civic advocacy group, released the findings Sunday after commissioning polling firm Global Research to survey 1,000 workers aged 19 and older nationwide from Sept. 1 to 7 on awareness of overtime premium pay and the all-inclusive wage system.
Under the all-inclusive wage system, legally mandated allowances — including overtime pay — are bundled into a worker's base salary or paid as a fixed supplement, regardless of actual hours worked. Labor advocates have long warned the arrangement enables widespread "free labor," where employees put in extra hours without receiving proper compensation.
The survey found that 71.1 percent of respondents said the system should be banned. Only 28.3 percent said they supported it.
When asked whether their current employer pays all required premiums for overtime, holiday and night work, 44.9 percent said yes and 30.7 percent said no.
Among the 307 respondents who said they did not receive premium pay, the most common reason — cited by 38.4 percent — was that their workplace operates under the all-inclusive wage system. Another 20.2 percent said non-payment was simply standard practice at their company, while 19.9 percent said premiums were paid but subject to a cap.
When the same group was asked whether they receive additional pay for working beyond the overtime hours set under the all-inclusive arrangement, 69.1 percent said no, compared with just 8.5 percent who said yes. Of those respondents, 38.8 percent said they sometimes work beyond the contracted overtime limit — 10.5 percentage points more than the 28.3 percent who said they stay within it.
"Even under the all-inclusive wage system, any hours worked beyond the agreed overtime threshold must be compensated separately," Workplace Harassment 119 said. "Yet a significant number of workplaces are demanding extra work without paying workers what they are owed."
The government is pushing legislation to ban the all-inclusive wage system. The Ministry of Employment and Labor tightened oversight of companies in April through guidelines aimed at preventing the misuse and abuse of the arrangement. Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said at a national audit Oct. 13 that the ministry would seek to pass a ban through the National Assembly in the second half of the year.
park.jiyeong@heraldcorp.com
