‘연봉에 퇴직금을 포함하여 분할 지급’하는 중간정산의 법적 효력

In Korea the employers have been focused on the change of wage determining system from the seniority-based system into the job-based system and merit-based system after IMF financial crisis. The recent proliferation of the merit-based wage system such as “ annual pay system” is attributable to the structure changes in the labor market. However, it is not easy to reconcile the conflict of interests between labor and management that may arise in the course of its implementation because of the rigid labor law and the seniority-based management system. Especially it is due to the ill-defined concept and rigidity of the dual baseline structure(normal wages and average wages), and the legal retirement allowance system. So, the employers use the Interim Severance Payment System to avoid the unnecessary conflict between labor and management regarding the wage composition of retirement allowance. The Labor Standards Act provides that an employer may, upon a request of an employee, even before his or her retirement, pay a retirement allowance calculated on the basis of consecutive years of employment. But the Korean Supreme Court denies the legal effect of the Interim Severance Payment System under annual pay system on the grounds of enforcement of the statutory retirement allowance system. In this article, I introduced the legal system of the Interim Severance Payment System and the ruling of Korean Supreme Court about the contract between labor and management for the retirement allowance which are divided into the monthly salary. Also, I criticized the conservative attitude of the Supreme Court in order to suggest the direction of legislative improvement for securing an “economic efficiency” to employers, while simultaneously granting “proper level of wage” to workers.