The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Kia Motors’ union in its lawsuit against management, stating that regular bonuses and lunch allowances should be included in a worker’s ordinary wages. The Court ordered Kia to pay back unpaid wages for three years in the amount of KRW 422.3 billion (USD 370 million). Kia Motors has claimed that the union’s call for regular bonuses to be included in the base wage was a breach of the “principle of good faith” agreed between the two sides. “We cannot accept the court’s ruling. We are going to appeal,” a company official said. However, the court rejected the company’s claim that workers belatedly claiming unpaid wages were a breach of the principle.
On 31 August, the Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of Kia Motors’ 27,424 members of union in its suit against management. The Court ruled bonuses and lunch allowances paid to workers at Kia Motors as part of ordinary wages.
The Court ordered Kia to pay KRW 422.3 billion (USD 370 million) including the principal (KRW 312.6 billion) and interest (KRW 109.7 billion), which is 38.7% of KRW 1.09 trillion that the union called for.
The Court ruled that the company had no grounds to prove that such pay increases would pose greater risks to the company. Currently, similar cases are under review at district courts nationwide, and the ruling is likely to have wider ramifications on the corporate community