사무직 근로자의 근로시간 제도에 대한 개선방안

Abstract

Recently, white collar employees, mostly consisting of people who are engaged in higher value-added and creative works, are increasing. They fit for working autonomously and being assessed not by how long they have worked but by how much and well they have done. Therefore various working systems such as flexible or discretionary working hour system are being adapted to meet diversification in work forms or changes in attitudes toward employment, but many negative opinions about present working hour systems are arising. They criticize that the present law regulating only actual working time is suitable for production employees working in plants but not for atypical employees such as white collar employees. On the other hand, while needs for a balance between work and home is going up as both physical and mental health, and commitment to family are regarded very important, Korea is still dishonored being called the longest working hour country because of actually long working time. In this circumstance it is necessary to examine how much familiar the white collar workers are with the present working time legislation. In the US it is provided in FLSA that employees who work over 40 hours per a week must be paid over 1.5times the ordinary wage rate, but white collar workers are not applied by this overtime wage regulation. Also in Japan, in relation to white collar workers, there are exemption and discretionary working hour system for professional or panning works. We have working hour legislations considering white collar workers in Koreaas well. They are discretionary regarded working hour system and exemption for supervisory/managerial workers. However for the discretionary regarded working hour system, there are arguments over the criteria for the level of the work discretion, and determining the considered time. There also are arguments over the scope of the supervisors and managers in the exemption system. Nevertheless, many people insist on adopting a new system based on the view that the present systems are not enough for regulating the working time of white collar workers. But as it is hard to judge how far the present legislations apply, adoption of a new system is not very activated. Therefore it is important to create a system enabling each white collar worker to be free from the working hour regulation and work flexibly, and to maximize their capabilities. In addition, even when they work autonomously there should be one prioritizing employees’ health so that the safety from the risk of long working hours could be established.