The part of the lower judgment against the Plaintiff regarding the claim for retirement allowance shall be reversed, and this part of the case shall be reversed.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

1. As to the Plaintiff’s ground of appeal

According to Article 24(2) and (4) of the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act (hereinafter “Trade Union Act”), an employee who is engaged exclusively in the affairs of a trade union (hereinafter “labor union full-time employee”) shall not receive any benefits from the employer during his/her full-time period, but an employee designated as eligible for the exemption from working hours (hereinafter “working hours exempted”) may conduct certain affairs, such as consultation with the employer, negotiation, grievance settlement, industrial safety activities, etc. without any wage loss, and maintain and manage the trade union for the development of sound labor-management relations, to the extent not exceeding the limit of the exemption from working hours publicly notified.

In order to prevent a trade union from dependent economicly on an employer and to secure the autonomy of a trade union, the above provision, instead of prohibiting the provision of wages for full-time union workers, aims to ensure that the trade union activity continues to be guaranteed within a certain period of time exemption by taking into account the net function of the employer’s labor management agency.

( Constitutional Court Order 2010Hun-Ma606, May 29, 2014). Article 81 of the Trade Union Act regulating employer’s unfair labor practices prohibits “an act of providing wages to pre-employed workers or assisting operating expenses of a trade union” in the main sentence of subparagraph 4, reflecting such content, from engaging in unfair labor practices; however, in the proviso, “an act of allowing a person exempt from working hours to engage in such activities as above during working hours” does not constitute unfair labor practices.

Therefore, it can be said that the payment of wages to a time-off worker does not constitute unfair labor practices unless there are special circumstances.

However, it has been set excessively without reasonable grounds.