최저임금법상의 비교대상임금에 대한 비판적 분석 ― 대법원 2007.1.11. 선고 2006다64245 판결을 중심으로 ―

Current Minimum Wage Act in Korea introduces the term, “Comparative Wage” in order to calculate minimum wages. However, the term itself is nebulous and it is controversial to include what types of wage items into the category of “comparative wage” in practice. This paper compares lower court's decisions with those of the supreme court's on interpretation of “comparative wage” and identifies the differences between the different courts decisions on this matter from the perspective of legal interpretation. Additionally, from legislation perspective, this paper critically analyzes problems of comparative wage system and demonstrates the needs of system amendment in this matter, in line with the development of ordinary wage principle in law through various court's decisions that we have seen in Korea. The essential point of the argument is that, because both “comparative wage” and “ordinary wage” carries a fundamental factor, “payment for contractual work”, it is not desirable to understand the two terms separately.