South Korea: Termination of employment

Original and updating authors: Jung Woo Lee, Hyunyoung Seo and Jong In Jun, Yulchon LLC

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Summary

• An employment contract may be terminated on various grounds, such as voluntary resignation, dismissal, mutual consent or automatically. (See General)
• Statutory notice periods apply in the cases of both dismissal and resignation. (See Notice periods)
• An employee may freely resign from their employment. Although a notice of resignation does not legally need to be in writing, it is typically given in written form to prevent potential future disputes. (See Resignation)
• An employment relationship is automatically terminated upon the death of an employee, reaching retirement age or the expiry of a fixed-term contract. (See Automatic termination)
• There are three basic categories of dismissal, namely disciplinary dismissal for serious misconduct, dismissal for business reasons such as redundancy, and ordinary dismissal for various circumstances. Ordinary dismissal includes dismissal for poor performance and dismissal due to a business closure. (See Dismissal)
• Employers frequently terminate employees' employment by concluding an agreement with the employee to voluntarily resign in return for compensation. (See Termination by mutual consent)
• The concept of constructive dismissal does not exist. (See Constructive dismissal)
• Employers are prohibited from dismissing or disadvantaging employees based on gender, maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave, family care leave, fertility treatment leave, or for reporting workplace harassment. (See Protection against dismissal)
• Employers must provide severance pay or operate a retirement pension system for employees who have worked continuously for at least one year. (See Severance payments)
• Employers are required to provide a certificate containing the employment information requested by the former employee. (See References)
• Post-termination non-compete clauses are permitted if certain conditions are fulfilled. (See Post-termination non-compete clauses)
• Employees may file a legal claim with the Labour Relation Commission (LRC) or in civil court for wrongful dismissal. (See Contesting dismissals)