노동관행 소고(小考) ― 통상임금 산정관행을 중심으로 ―

This article shows that customs in workplace labor relations have a role of creating rights or duties between employer and employee. The basic rights and duties in labor relations are largely based on employment contract, collective agreement or works rules. Nevertheless, labor relations cannot be covered with only the formal written contract or agreement. Due to the dynamics and continuation of labor relations repeated practices become a certain standards of conduct in workplace. This practices is not a normative rule but the de facto repeated acts which can be a standard. This practices in labor relations give employer and employee anticipations and expectations and in certain conditions become the normative rules which regulate the parties concerned. But it can not be legally recognized that the practices in workplace labor relations become normative rules until the courts decides that it should be a legal norm to observe. The supreme court in Korea have decided that the wages which are periodic, even and fixed should be included in the ordinary wages in the Labor Standards Act and the practices that employers exclude them from the ordinary wage (with the allowance of the collective agreement of the trade union) should be violated with the Labor Standards Act. It is important to interpret labor relations disputes in light of the customs in workplace. This article emphasizes that the customs in labor relations can be a normative rules in terms of the expectations of the parties concerned which is not against the law.