‘포괄식 임금 약정’에 관한 대만(臺灣)의판례 연구

In Taiwan, as in Korea, the Labor Standards Act is a comprehensive law that governs working hours and wages. Under this law, employees are entitled to payment proportional to the hours worked. Despite this, it is not uncommon for Taiwanese employers to enter into agreements with their employees that incorporate all overtime wages into a fixed wage or include overtime wages as an allowance or bonus within the wage system established by the employer, much like fixed overtime pay agreements in Korea. In such cases, a key legal issue arises when employees seek to claim the difference between the amount paid by the employer and the amount calculated under the Labor Standards Act based on their actual overtime hours worked. The main legal question is whether the employer can rely on a blanket remuneration agreement as a defense. However, Taiwanese courts have been inconsistent in their rulings on this matter, and it remains unresolved. Against this backdrop, this article provides an overview of Taiwan's legal framework for working hours. It then delves into the development of case law on so-called "blanket remuneration agreements" and the criticisms of such agreements in Taiwan. The objective is to explore the implications of these findings for the ongoing debate on blanket wage agreements in Korea.