Insights on the latest Korean labor law / HR issues for foreign companies and residents
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
An employee facing a disciplinary hearing asks to bring an attorney into the room and let that attorney speak on his behalf. The employer says no, but offers a compromise: the attorney can wait in a nearby room, and the employee can step out to consult if needed. The hearing
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
Many foreign-invested companies start small in Korea. A regional sales office. A liaison office that grew into a handful of local hires. A startup's first Korea team. At that size, a common and reasonable question comes up: do all kinds of restrictions under the labor law actually
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
This is Part 7 of our series on workplace harassment under Korean labor law. Part 1 covered the basic legal definition. Part 2 covered the employer's investigation duty. Part 3 covered protecting the affected employee during the investigation and introduced the prohibition on disadvantageous treatment. Part 4 covered
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
An employee files a harassment report against a colleague. Then another. Then five more, over the following months, each one thin on specifics. This is where a legitimate reporting system could be used for unintended purposes. This is Part 6 of our series on workplace harassment under Korean labor law.
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
A manager assigns a task the employee cannot possibly finish in the time given. Another manager scolds a junior employee harshly, but only once, and only because the job genuinely demanded it. Which one of these “exceed the reasonable scope of work”? This is Part 5 of our series on
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
A worker holds one-year contracts for nearly a decade. His performance reviews are strong. Then his employer restructures the department and lets his contract lapse. Does the worker have a claim? Under Korean law, long-term renewal can create a "renewal expectation right" (갱신기대권) that limits an
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
Many foreign-invested companies in Korea assume "employee representative" is a fixed role or a formality. It is not that simple. Korean labor law creates this role for specific purposes, and it matters whether the person holding it was actually selected the right way. Who Gets to be
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
A worker argues with his shift leader. That same day, his name disappears from the next work schedule. He doesn’t come back to work. About a month later, the company formally dismisses him for the absence. Was the removal from the schedule itself a dismissal? Both the Seoul Regional
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
Nowadays, it is quite common to see fellow colleagues taking a certain period for childcare leave. In such cases, companies often consider bringing in temporary or dispatch staff to cover the leave period. Until recently, exactly when that replacement worker could lawfully start was quite narrow. On July 1, 2026,
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
Korean employment law is changing on a rolling schedule between August 2026 and June 2027. The changes come from two separate statutes. The Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act expands leave and childcare protections. The Labor Standards Act and the Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act raise penalties
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
If you are searching for an labor compliance audit lawyer in Korea, you are likely a regional HR director, in-house counsel, or country manager. Someone above you asked a simple question: is our Korean entity compliant? That question usually comes up before a funding round, before a headquarters review,
HR & Korean Labor Compliance
A one-year-old wanders alone through a childcare center for twenty-five minutes. No teacher is watching him. He walks into an unlocked kitchen and falls into a pot of hot soup left on the floor. The center's director was charged with a workplace negligence offense for