임금피크제 유효성 판단에 관한 판례 연구 - 연령차별을 중심으로 -

While the past legal issues regarding the wage peak system mainly focused on the procedural legitimacy such as the changes in disadvantages for the rules of employment, the recent lower court cases examine whether the wage peak system violates the Elderly Employment Promotion Act for the age discrimination without rational grounds. The purpose of introducing the wage peak system was to maintain the employment of elderly and to create youth job openings. In order to exempt the wage peak system from the wage adjustment for the active employment policy and extension of retirement age, there should be a discussion on the rationality of such measure. The mandatory retirement age should not be justified as the rational ground for the age discrimination in the wage peak system. The wage peak system would develop in more desirable ways by analyzing the wage peak systems at actual companies and comparing the company’s actual circumstance and employee’s disadvantage to determine whether it applies to the age discrimination. Realistically, it is hard to find another effective alternative other than the wage peak system. There should be long-term solutions such as converting the seniority-based pay to job-based pay as the fundamental solution for excessive labor cost burdens. For now, however, the most realistic alternative is to have the labor and management discuss about introducing the wage peak system, introduce the wage peak system for win-win, and manage the wage peak system rationally.