The principle of “no work, no pay” is essentially based on the Labor Standards Act’s premise that wages are paid for work performed. Therefore, for the parts where no work is provided, wages do not have to be paid. A typical case is break time (usually lunchtime).
This no work, no pay principle also applies to attendance management. Let’s examine the case of employee A, who earns a pre-tax monthly salary of 2.3 million won and works 40 hours per week, in situations of being late, leaving early, or being absent.
(1) Regular Hourly Wage
To accurately deduct from the salary, it’s necessary to calculate the regular hourly wage. Employee A’s regular hourly wage is derived as [2.3 million won ÷ 209 hours = 11,005 won].
(2) In Case of Being Late or Leaving Early
If an employee is late or leaves early, deducting more than the time they were late or early would be considered a predetermined penalty, violating the Labor Standards Act’s prohibition of penalty clauses, and could result in wage non-payment. Therefore, wages should be deducted proportionate to the exact time of being late or leaving early.
For instance, if 30 minutes late or leaving early, 50% of the regular hourly wage can be deducted. If 15 minutes late or early, 25% of the regular hourly wage can be deducted. In the case of employee A, with a regular hourly wage of 11,005 won, 5,502 won can be deducted for 30 minutes of being late or leaving early.
(3) In Case of Absence
If employee A is absent, the legal method of deducting wages becomes more complex. First, the wage for the missed day should be deducted using a daily calculation. It’s important to base this calculation on calendar days.
For example, if employee A is absent for one day in a month where wages are paid from December 1 to December 31, then according to the no work, no pay principle, one day’s wages should be deducted. Here, one day’s wage is [2.3 million won * 1 day / 31 days = 74,194 won].
If employee A is absent for one day in a month where wages are paid from February 1 to February 28, then it becomes [2.3 million won * 1 day / 28 days = 82,143 won].
Additionally, in the case of absence, the obligation to provide paid weekly rest days disappears if the employee does not work all the agreed-upon workdays in a week, which also eliminates the obligation to pay weekly rest day allowances. For monthly wage employees, the monthly salary already includes the weekly rest day allowance, so for one day of absence, one day’s worth of weekly rest day allowance can also be deducted.
The amount for one day’s weekly rest day allowance for an employee working 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, is [regular hourly wage * 8 hours]. In the case of employee A, it is [11,005 won * 8 hours = 88,040 won].
Therefore, if employee A is to receive wages for the period from March 1 to March 31 and has been absent for one day in March, the total legally deductible amount, including the weekly rest day allowance, would be [2.3 million won * 1 day / 31 days = 74,194 won] + [one day’s weekly rest day allowance 88,040 won] = 162,234 won.
Using Annual Leave for Lateness, Early Departure, or Absence
If deducting for lateness, early departure, or absence from each month’s salary is too complicated or awkward in terms of the relationship with the employee, the company’s internal employment rules (or in-house regulations) could stipulate that ‘lateness or early departure accumulating to 8 hours will be considered as one day’s annual leave, and absence will also be considered as one day’s annual leave used.’ In this case, one day’s annual leave can be deducted for every 8 hours accumulated of being late or leaving early, and one day’s annual leave can be used in place for each day of absence.
