The first District Court ruling on a portion of the lawsuits totaling up to KRW 1 trillion, considered the main match in the ordinary wage dispute that sparked the Seoul city bus strike, will be delivered at the end of this month.

Although a Supreme Court ruling has already recognized regular bonuses as part of ordinary wages, the court's decision on remaining unsettled details is drawing keen attention as about KRW 500 billion is at stake.

According to the Seoul bus industry, Civil Agreement Division 11 of the Seoul Western District Court (Presiding Judge Ku Kwang-hyun) will issue rulings on August 27 in 10 wage lawsuits filed against their respective companies by a total of 1,793 workers from 10 bus companies, including Sunjin Transport, in July 2023.

If the lawsuit filed by Dong-A Transport workers in June 2015, which is currently undergoing a remand trial, served as a sort of preliminary battle to gauge the court's stance, this upcoming ruling will have a much greater impact as it was brought by the actual parties involved.

Aside from the Seoul Western District Court, workers from 64 bus companies in Seoul have also filed identical lawsuits against their respective companies across six other courts, including four other district courts in Seoul (Seoul Central, Eastern, Southern, and Northern District Courts) as well as the Seongnam and Ansan branches of the Suwon District Court.

The workers have claimed the difference between various allowances calculated by adding regular bonuses to ordinary wages and the allowances previously paid.

This aligns with the December 2024 decision by the Supreme Court en banc stating that regular bonuses must be recognized as ordinary wages even without the requirement of fixedness.

However, key issues remain over whether regular bonuses should be retroactively reflected in wages for 2023 to 2024, and by what divisor the ordinary wage including regular bonuses should be divided to calculate the hourly wage.

Previously, the Supreme Court en banc decided to apply the new legal doctrine starting from December 19, 2024, when regular bonuses were recognized as ordinary wages, while retroactively applying it only to cases that had already been filed and were pending by the sentencing date.

This was intended to minimize confusion resulting from the change in legal principles.

Because Seoul bus company workers filed their lawsuits in July 2023—before the new precedent was established—they qualify for retroactive application.

The problem is that when the workers initially filed the suit, they only claimed wages for 2020 to 2022, but after the Supreme Court precedent was released, they expanded the scope of their claims in 2025 to demand the application of the new legal doctrine to wages for 2023 to 2024 as well.

If the workers had filed a separate lawsuit after the Supreme Court ruling, the new legal doctrine could not be retroactively applied to wages for 2023 to 2024, but the court must now decide whether to accept the expansion of claims in the existing lawsuit.



The base hours used to calculate how much monthly ordinary wages translate to per hour are also a major point of contention.

The shorter the base hours, the higher the hourly wage, and the greater the various allowances the company must pay to workers.

Labor unions argue that the base hours should be set at 176 hours per month, based on eight hours a day, while bus companies counter that considering work patterns, the base hours should be 230 hours per month, or at the very least 209 hours per month.

The court's rulings on this matter have been inconsistent so far.

Different conclusions have been reached in lawsuits filed across various regions, and a unified precedent does not yet exist.

The second trial of a lawsuit filed by Dong-A Transport, a Seoul city bus company, recognized 176 hours as the base hours and ruled in favor of the workers, and an April Supreme Court petit bench ruling set aside other parts without making a specific judgment on this issue.

On the other hand, in a lawsuit filed by Busan city bus workers, the first trial recognized 209 hours as the base hours, while the second trial sentenced on July 9 of this year recognized 230 hours.

The Masan Branch of the Changwon District Court also recognized 230 hours in a similar case last September.

An official from the Association of Seoul City Bus Transport Businesses explained, "The work patterns of bus companies in Busan are almost identical to those in Seoul."

Yet, contrasting rulings have been handed down despite similar conditions.

The Seoul City Bus Transport Association estimates that if the base hours are recognized as 176 hours as claimed by workers and regular bonuses are reflected in ordinary wages up through 2023 to 2024 across all lawsuits filed by approximately 17,000 workers, the total cost will exceed KRW 1.0216 trillion.

Conversely, if the companies' arguments are accepted, setting the base hours at 230 hours and excluding the new ordinary wage legal doctrine for 2023 to 2024 wages, the cost is projected to be about KRW 526.6 billion.

The difference resulting from the rulings on these two issues amounts to approximately KRW 495 billion.

The ordinary wage conflict served as the spark that led to the longest-ever two-day strike by Seoul city buses early this year.

At the time, labor and management failed to narrow their differences over whether to reorganize the wage system to reflect revised ordinary wages and ultimately postponed the restructuring.

The structure is such that the heavier burden placed on city bus companies following the court ruling will inevitably fall entirely on public finances.

This is because Seoul city buses have been operated under a quasi-public system since 2004, meaning the Seoul Metropolitan Government provides financial support when deficits occur.

The Seoul City Bus Transport Association sent official letters to the city in May and July of this year, requesting that it "urgently calculate the budget and disburse the increased ordinary wage amounts."

The city responded to the first official letter by stating that it is "reviewing the legality of financial support and the validity of subsidy provisions," and to the second letter by stating that it "plans to review the matter in accordance with relevant laws and ordinances and later reply regarding its stance, whether support will be provided, and the amount."

Bus companies maintain that it is realistically impossible to shoulder ordinary wage increases reaching up to KRW 1 trillion, making it difficult to continue bus operations without city support.

An official from the Seoul City Bus Transport Association explained, "Resolving the increase in ordinary wages is a matter of survival for the industry, and we plan to file a lawsuit against the Seoul Metropolitan Government soon to secure financial support."

(Photo: Yonhap News)