Plaintiff 1 and four others (Attorneys Kim Young-soo et al., Counsel for the plaintiff-appellant)

Korea District Court Decision 201Na14144 decided May 1, 201

Supreme Court Decision 2012Da116871 Decided May 29, 2014

Seoul High Court Decision 2014Na28208 Decided October 30, 2015

All appeals are dismissed.

The costs of appeal are assessed against the plaintiffs.

The grounds of appeal are examined (to the extent of supplement in case of supplemental appellate briefs not timely filed).

The lower court invoked the legal doctrine of the Supreme Court en banc Decision 2012Da89399 Decided December 18, 2013, regarding cases where the claim for additional statutory allowances is rejected as it violates the good faith principle, on the basis of adding regular bonuses to ordinary wages and seeking additional statutory allowances based thereon, and determined as stated in its reasoning that (i) given that the instant regular bonus constitutes 700% per annum of ordinary monthly wages, and that the statutory allowances to be additionally borne by the Defendant would considerably exceed the statutory allowances to be used as materials for negotiations between labor and management at the time of wage negotiations; (ii) the Defendant’s cumulative net income amount from 2008 to 2010 -60 billion won, to 2014 from 2008 to 2014; (iii) the Defendant’s claim for additional statutory allowances from 2008 to 2014 to 200 billion won is considerably higher than that of the same kind of business entity to be used by the Defendant; and (iv) the Defendant’s demand for additional allowances from 201 billion to 200 billion.

Examining the record in accordance with the relevant legal doctrine, the lower court did not err in its judgment by failing to exhaust all necessary deliberations, contrary to what is alleged in the grounds of appeal, by exceeding the bounds of the principle of free evaluation of evidence against logical and empirical rules, or by misapprehending the legal doctrine on the good faith in claiming additional statutory allowances

Therefore, all appeals are dismissed, and the costs of appeal are assessed against the losing party. It is so decided as per Disposition by the assent of all participating Justices on the bench.

Justices Noh Tae-tae (Presiding Justice)