Your pay dropped because the company gave you fewer hours? Even on hourly pay, you must get three kinds of money (hours worked + 70% shutdown allowance + weekly holiday pay)

When does this apply to you?

• You often come to work in the morning and hear, "There is no work today. Eat lunch and go home."
• Your contract is 8 hours a day, but you really work only 5–6 hours, and your monthly pay falls to about 1.5 million 원.
• Your hourly-pay contract has no "allowance" items, so the company says "There are no allowances."
• You are on a monthly salary, but the company says it will pay "only for the days and hours you worked."
• The factory often stops because of broken machines, fewer orders, or not enough materials.

Why three kinds of money?

1. Hours worked × hourly wage is the basic part. It must be at least the minimum wage of 10,320원 per hour.

2. Shutdown allowance (휴업수당): Article 46 of the 근로기준법 (Labor Standards Act) says the company must pay at least 70% of your average wage for hours you could not work because of the company (the employer's fault). This applies to days when you were sent home for the whole day. It also applies when you were not given work for only part of the day. You get it for those hours. Fewer orders or a broken machine are the company's problem. Cases the company also cannot control, like a typhoon or a power cut, may be different. See Sent home because there is no work? You still get 70% shutdown allowance.

3. Weekly holiday pay (주휴수당): This is one day's pay you get when you come to work on all your contracted workdays in a week. A day when the company sent you home early is not an absence on your part, so you still have full attendance. Your weekly holiday pay stays the same. See 'Sunday money' (weekly holiday pay).

Example calculations

Conditions: hourly wage 10,320원 (minimum wage), contract 8 hours a day × 5 days a week, company with 5 or more regular workers.

Example A — You worked only 5 hours a day for the whole week

Item	Calculation	Amount
Hours worked	5 hours × 5 days × 10,320원	258,000원
Shutdown allowance	3 hours × 5 days × 10,320원 × 70%	108,360원
Weekly holiday pay	8 hours × 10,320원	82,560원
Total for 1 week (minimum)		448,920원
If the company paid "only for hours worked"	5 hours × 5 days × 10,320원	258,000원
Difference		190,920원

Example B — The company made you take 2 full days off in one week

Item	Calculation	Amount
Hours worked	8 hours × 3 days × 10,320원	247,680원
Shutdown allowance	8 hours × 2 days × 10,320원 × 70%	115,584원
Weekly holiday pay	8 hours × 10,320원	82,560원
Total for 1 week (minimum)		445,824원

Example C — You are on a monthly salary (2,156,880원), but the company "counted only the hours worked" and paid 1,600,000원 A monthly salary is set on the basis that you agreed to work your contracted hours. The company gave you less work for its own reasons, so that is the company's responsibility. The rule is that you get your full salary of 2,156,880원. At the very least, the company cannot pay less than the shutdown allowance level (70%). You can ask for the difference of 556,880원. See Your contract says monthly salary, but in Korea you are paid by the hour.

To be exact, the shutdown allowance is 70% of your "average wage" (평균임금) (your pay for the last 3 months ÷ number of days). So the real amount may be a little different from the numbers above. If 70% of the average wage is more than your ordinary wage (통상임금), the company may pay the ordinary wage instead. The calculations above are enough to understand how it works.

Steps: the order to ask for your money

1. Start keeping records. Every day, write down the time you started work, the time the company sent you home, and the reason ("no work," "machine broken"). On days you are sent home, send a text message that same day: "Today the boss said there was no work and told me to leave at ○ o'clock." Even if nobody replies, the message you sent is evidence.
2. Get your 급여명세서 (pay slip). Check the hours and allowance items. If the company does not give you a pay slip, see How to make evidence without a pay slip.
3. Calculate one month. Calculate the three items like in the tables above. Compare the total with the money you got. You can use the pay calculator.
4. Ask by text message. "The shutdown allowance of ○○원 and weekly holiday pay of ○○원 for month ○ are missing. Please pay them." In Korean: "휴업수당과 주휴수당을 지급해 주세요(hyueop-sudang-gwa juhyu-sudang-eul jigeuphae juseyo)" (Please pay my shutdown allowance and weekly holiday pay).
5. Get advice. Call 1350 or 1577-0071 (Nepali available) to check that your calculation is correct.
6. If the company does not pay, file a complaint for unpaid wages (임금체불 진정). Shutdown allowance and weekly holiday pay are also wages. Follow How to report unpaid wages. You can claim up to 3 years of unpaid money.
7. If this goes on for several months, ask the 고용센터 if you can apply for a workplace change because "working hours are different from the contract" is a violation of working conditions. You need evidence (contract + records of work start and end times + pay slips). See Workplace change.

What to prepare

• 근로계약서 (employment contract) (the part about contracted working hours)
• Records of work start and end times (notes, photos, fingerprint records)
• Text messages from the days the company sent you home early
• 급여명세서 (pay slips), bank deposit records
• Calculation table (same format as the tables above)

Be careful

• Do not give up because the company says "business is hard." The shutdown allowance exists for times when the company is having a hard time. If the company really cannot pay, there is a separate process to lower it, with approval from the 노동위원회 (Labor Relations Commission). The boss cannot decide this alone.
• The shutdown allowance rule does not apply to companies with fewer than 5 workers. But weekly holiday pay, the minimum wage, and full pay under a monthly-salary contract still apply. See Rules for workplaces with fewer than 5 workers.
• If the company records the hours it sent you home as "leaving early" (조퇴) or "annual leave" (연차), it did this without your agreement. See If hours you were sent home for no work were counted as leaving early or annual leave.
• If the company says "Do not go home, wait here," waiting time is also working time. Time spent inside the company waiting for instructions must be paid at 100%.
• Agriculture and livestock work is different. By law, there is no weekly holiday pay. See Working conditions for E-9 workers in agriculture and livestock.
• A day when you yourself asked to leave early is not a shutdown. Records showing whether the company sent you home or you left by choice are important.

Frequently asked questions

Q. The company says there are no allowances because my contract is hourly pay. A. Even with hourly pay, the law gives you shutdown allowance and weekly holiday pay. You get them even if they are not written in the contract.

Q. The company says, "There is no work because you work too slowly." A. The amount of orders and the production plan are the company's responsibility. It is hard for the company to prove that a shutdown happened because of how fast workers work. Keep records and call 1350 for advice.

Q. Can I get it even if this happens only a few days a month? A. Yes. If there are hours you could not work because of the company, even on just one day, you get shutdown allowance for those hours. Even small amounts become big when they add up.

Q. My pay keeps going down and I cannot live on it. Can I change companies? A. If the company keeps failing to give you the working hours in your contract, you can apply for a workplace change because of a violation of working conditions. The 고용센터 looks at your evidence and decides if it is the employer's fault. If it is the employer's fault, it does not count in your number of changes. That is why records are important.

Where to get help

Organization	Phone	What they help with
고용노동부 (Ministry of Employment and Labor) Customer Center	1350	Checking shutdown allowance and weekly holiday pay calculations, unpaid wage complaints
외국인력상담센터 (Foreign Workforce Counseling Center)	1577-0071	Many languages including Nepali, 3-way calls, 365 days 09:00~18:00 (staff on duty on Saturdays and public holidays)
대한법률구조공단 (Korea Legal Aid Corporation)	132	Free legal advice
My pay calculator	/ne/tools/pay	Calculating hours and allowances