The company tried to reduce wages by claiming 'irregular attendance records'... Law says, "Pay normally"

In a wage lawsuit filed by a retired worker against his former employer, the company argued for a wage reduction due to irregular attendance records, but it was not accepted.

According to the legal community on the 30th, the Seoul Western District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the wage lawsuit filed by Mr. A, in his 30s, against distribution company B on the 30th of last month.

Mr. A joined Company B in 2021 and started working, but eventually expressed his intention to resign after repeated non-payment of wages.

However, even after leaving the company, the company did not pay about 43 million won in overdue wages and severance pay, and Mr. A eventually filed a lawsuit.

Then, Company B insisted on reducing the billing amount.

This is because Mr. A had been absent without notice several times while working.

The company presented company attendance records as the basis for its claim and claimed that Mr. A had been coming to the company intermittently for several months without a set work date.

In response, Mr. A countered that his work location was not constant due to frequent out-of-town work at the time.

He also emphasized that the company has given him wide discretion regarding his place of work, and that it is unfair to acknowledge attendance based solely on door records.

The court ruled in Mr. A’s favor.

The court said, "The plaintiff's attendance record appears to be somewhat irregular, and the defendant has not reduced the plaintiff's salary despite the plaintiff's poor attendance performance. Looking at the employment contract, it appears that the defendant has allowed the plaintiff to freely choose the form of work."

He added, “If the plaintiff had been absent from work without permission, we should have reprimanded him, but we only had work-related contact,” and added, “The plaintiff can be seen to have been working normally, and the company has an obligation to pay him wages accordingly.”

Attorney Gwangdeok Kim of Daeryun Law Firm, which represented Mr. A in this case, said, “Company B claimed unauthorized absence from work on the grounds that there was no record of Mr. A’s attendance, and made claims that attempted to ignore and distort the specific work pattern.”

He explained, "We were able to obtain this ruling by emphasizing the fact that Mr. A did not receive a single criticism, warning, or disciplinary action related to attendance during his entire working period."
 

Shin Min-ji (sourminjee@ikbc.co.kr)

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Company tried to reduce wages by claiming 'irregular attendance record'... Law, "Pay normally" (Shortcut)