미국의 화이트칼라 이그젬션과일본의 고도 프로페셔널 제도 - 전문직, 고액연봉자 근로시간 규제 적용 제외와 관련하여 -

This paper examines the main elements of the US white-collar exemption system and Japan’s high-level professional worker system and then discusses issues and matters to be attended to when introducing a white-collar working-hours exemption system in Korea. As the industrial structure worldwide is rapidly changing with the development of ICT and digital transformation, overhauling the current working hours system for high-level professional workers is also essential for developing the industry and workers’ abilities. In the US, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)—the federal law that governs wage and working-hours—creates several categories of exempt employees. The most commonly used are the executive exemption, the professional exemption, and the administrative exemption. These are often called “white-collar” exemptions because they apply to people who work in offices or other professional environments. Two requirements apply to all three white-collar exemptions. First, the employee must earn at least $684 per week, which is $35,568 annually. Second, the employee must be paid on a salary basis; this means that the employee must receive a preset amount for each pay period, regardless of the hours worked or the quality or quantity of the work performed. In addition to these requirements, each exemption has its provisions relating to the specific duties that the employee performs. In Japan, the high-level professional worker system exempts employees who meet a specific annual income requirement, whose work is assigned a definite scope, and who have highly vocational skills, from the application of regulations on work hours (rules on working hours, breaks, holidays and late-night work, and overtime allowance payments). The requirements for the application of the system are as follows: (i) the matters must be resolved by a four-fifths majority of members of the Labor-Management Committee, (ii) employers must notify an administrative agency of the above resolution, and (iii) employees must consent (to the application of the high-level professional system) in writing. In line with the progress of digitalization, changes in the industrial structure, diversification of employment types, and the growing flexibility in work conditions, it is imperative to seek an exemption system on such matters as working hours for white-collar workers with highly compensated and discretionary work. To that end, this paper discusses (i) the need to set clear standards for selecting target tasks for exemption, (ii) the importance of establishing annual income requirements, and (iii) the need to secure the health rights of target workers in Korea, through comparative research of the US and Japanese approaches.