Supreme Court rules part-time officials exempt from overtime deduction

The Supreme Court ruled on May 29 that regulations requiring an automatic one-hour deduction from overtime pay for part-time civil servants working during normal business hours are unconstitutional.

The decision centered on a provision in the Regulation on Civil Service Allowances that mandates subtracting one hour from calculated overtime when work occurs on days other than holidays or Saturdays. While the rule was designed to account for meal breaks and non-working intervals during extended shifts for full-time employees, the court found this logic does not hold for part-time officials whose extra hours typically fall within the standard workday.

Justices reasoned that part-time workers performing overtime during normal operating hours remain under direct supervision and engage in continuous, organized tasks without the same need for meal breaks as their full-time counterparts. Applying a blanket deduction in these instances lacks a rational basis and treats different working conditions identically without justification, violating the equality rights guaranteed under Article 11 of the Constitution.

The ruling clarifies that the one-hour deduction may only apply to overtime performed outside of normal working hours. In case 2021Du61741, the court determined that while the State Public Officials Act grants broad discretion to determine allowance details, this authority does not extend to creating unreasonable disparities between full-time and part-time staff regarding actual work performed.