How to Calculate Overtime, Night Work and Holiday Work Pay

When does this apply to you?

• You work more than 8 hours in a day or more than 40 hours in a week → overtime work
• You work between 10 PM and 6 AM → night work
• You work on your weekly day off, or on a holiday set in your 근로계약서 (employment contract) or 취업규칙 (company work rules) → holiday work

These three can happen at the same time. For example, if you do overtime work at 11 PM, you get both the overtime 50% and the night 50%.

As a rule, overtime work cannot be more than 12 hours per week, even if you and your employer agree to it (근로기준법 (Labor Standards Act) Article 53).

How to calculate

Extra pay is based on your ordinary wage. To find your ordinary hourly wage, take the pay you get regularly and in the same way every month, and divide it by your contracted working hours. The table below is an example to help you understand. It assumes your ordinary hourly wage is 10,320원, the 2026 minimum wage. If your real hourly wage is different, use your own hourly wage.

Type of work	Rate	Pay per hour
Contracted work (basic)	1.0	10,320원
Overtime work	1.5	15,480원
Night work (within contracted working hours)	1.5	15,480원
Overtime + night	2.0	20,640원
Holiday work, up to 8 hours	1.5	15,480원
Holiday work, hours over 8	2.0	20,640원
Holiday work over 8 hours + night	2.5	25,800원

Example 1 — A weekday when you worked 10 hours

You worked from 08:00 to 19:00, with a 1-hour break. You actually worked 10 hours (8 contracted hours + 2 overtime hours).

• Basic 8 hours × 10,320원 = 82,560원
• Overtime 2 hours × 15,480원 = 30,960원
• Total for the day: 113,520원

Example 2 — A day when you worked only at night (night shift)

You worked from 22:00 to 06:00, with a 1-hour break. You actually worked 7 hours, and all of them were in night hours. If these are your set contracted hours, there is no overtime pay.

• Basic 7 hours × 10,320원 = 72,240원
• Extra night pay 7 hours × 5,160원 (50% of hourly wage) = 36,120원
• Total for the day: 108,360원

Example 3 — A holiday when you worked 10 hours

• 8 hours × 15,480원 = 123,840원
• Extra 2 hours × 20,640원 = 41,280원
• Total for the day: 165,120원

Workplaces with fewer than 5 workers

Article 56 of the Labor Standards Act does not apply to workplaces with fewer than 5 regular workers. This means that even if you do overtime, night or holiday work, there is no extra pay. But you must still get paid for every hour you worked (100%).

Even with fewer than 5 workers, these rules still apply: minimum wage, weekly holiday pay, 퇴직금 (severance pay), writing an employment contract, break time, and giving you a 임금명세서 (pay statement).

The number of regular workers is counted for the whole workplace. Your boss may say "we have fewer than 5 workers", but the real number may be different. A 근로감독관 (labor inspector) can check this.

If you work in farming, livestock or fishing

Article 63 of the Labor Standards Act says that the rules on working hours, breaks and holidays do not apply to the following businesses:

1. Farming or clearing land, planting, growing or harvesting plants, and other farming and forestry businesses
2. Raising animals, catching, harvesting or farming fish and other sea animals and plants, and other livestock, silkworm and fishery businesses

If your work is one of these, this is what happens:

• Extra pay for overtime work (50%) and extra pay for holiday work do not apply. This is because the legal working hours of 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week do not apply at all. But you must still get full pay for all hours you worked, and the minimum wage still applies.
• Extra pay for night work (50%) does apply. Extra night pay is a separate rule. It is not a rule on working hours, breaks or holidays. So the government's view is that even if Article 63 applies to you, you must get an extra 50% when you work between 10 PM and 6 AM.
• Whether Article 63 of the Labor Standards Act applies to you depends on the kind of work you actually do. Even in the same company, a person who only does office work, processing or sales work may not be part of this exception. If you are not sure whether your work is included, check with 1577-0071 or your local labor office of the 고용노동부 (Ministry of Employment and Labor).

Things to be careful about

• Be careful with "all-inclusive wage" (포괄임금) contracts. This is when the contract says something like "2,500,000원 per month, including all overtime and night pay". Even with this kind of contract, if the legal extra pay calculated from your real working hours is more than what you received, you can claim the difference. That is why it is important to keep a record of when you start and finish work.
• Your 급여명세서 (pay slip) should show how many hours of overtime, night and holiday pay were calculated. If these items are missing, or there is only one line called "other allowances", you can ask for an explanation.
• Break time is not working time. But if you could not actually rest and you worked, it may be counted as working time. In that case, keep a record.
• If the employer wants to give you days off (compensatory leave) instead of extra pay, they need a written agreement with the workers' representative. Your boss cannot decide this alone.
• Unpaid extra pay is also wages, so you must claim it within 3 years.

What to prepare

• Employment contract (근로계약서)
• Records of when you started and finished work (fingerprint scanner screen, attendance app, work log, photos, your own notes on a calendar)
• Pay slips (급여명세서) and bank deposit records
• Work schedule (shift schedule), and messages with your team leader or manager

Notes you write yourself on a calendar can also be used as evidence. Write down the time you start and finish work every day.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Is my ordinary hourly wage the same as the minimum wage? A. It may be different. The ordinary wage includes your basic pay and also allowances that are paid as a fixed amount every month. Calculate it using your pay slip, or ask a counseling center.

Q. Can I refuse overtime work? A. Overtime work needs your agreement. Treating you badly because you refused can be a legal problem.

Q. If I work on Saturday, is it holiday work? A. It depends on whether your company set Saturday as a holiday or as an unpaid day off. If it is an unpaid day off, it is often counted as overtime work, not holiday work. Check your employment contract and company work rules.

Q. I did not get my extra pay. Where do I report it? A. Submit a complaint online at the Labor Portal (labor.moel.go.kr), or visit the regional labor office of the 고용노동부 that covers your workplace. If you need an interpreter, you can call 1345 and ask for 3-way call interpretation.

Where to get help

Organization	Phone	What they do
외국인종합안내센터 (Immigration Contact Center)	1345	Counseling in 20 languages, 3-way call interpretation (when you call government or public offices). Weekdays 09:00–22:00 (Nepali until 18:00)
외국인력상담센터 (Counseling Center for Foreign Workers)	1577-0071	Labor counseling in many languages, including Nepali. 365 days, 09:00–18:00 (Saturdays and public holidays: staff on duty)
고용노동부 고객상담센터 (Ministry of Employment and Labor Call Center)	1350	Counseling on working hours and extra pay
고용노동부 노동포털 (Ministry of Employment and Labor Labor Portal)	labor.moel.go.kr	Submit a complaint online