The daily limit of four hours for overtime work by public officials will be abolished, and actual hours worked will now be recognized without a cap.

The Ministry of Personnel Management announced that the revision to the "Regulations on Allowances for Public Officials" containing these measures was approved at a Cabinet meeting.

Previously, even if public officials worked overtime exceeding four hours during peak periods, only four hours were recognized as work. Moving forward, they will be compensated for the actual hours worked.

However, the monthly limit of 57 hours will be maintained to ensure the right to rest for public officials.

While previously the monthly overtime cap could be expanded up to 100 hours only in exceptional situations such as urgent pending issues after prior approval from a minister, the cap will now be removed, and the authority for approval will be lowered from the head of the agency to the bureau or director-general level.

Additionally, an "overtime compensation allowance" will be newly established for Grade 4 dual-position public officials who handle working-level tasks before promotion to division head.

Individuals designated in advance by a ministry minister will be eligible to receive the allowance.

Management and oversight will also be strengthened to cut off the practice of formal or perfunctory overtime.

Accountability will be reinforced by requiring employees to register their actual presence for work on the electronic personnel management system at regular intervals during working hours, with department heads checking the results.

Fraudulent receipt of overtime pay will be explicitly included in the criteria for disciplining supervisors.

Furthermore, while disciplinary action requests are currently mandatory for those who fraudulently collect pay two or more times, such requests will become mandatory even for a first-time offense if the fraudulently received amount is 500,000 won or more.

(Photo: Yonhap News)