Introduction
Yulchon’s Human Resources Team is committed to helping our clients successfully settle labor disputes, understand Korean labor law, and create positive work environments that bring success to both management and employees.
Korean labor and employment laws are extremely unique and often very complicated. Cultural issues and unique local practices can make human resources issues even more difficult. Relying on past practice, intuition, experience in other countries or even a reasonably informed guess leads many companies to unintentionally overlook their legal obligations and the rights of their employees. This can be expensive and damaging to a company’s reputation.
To avoid unexpected risks, it is essential to obtain reliable and tested legal advice from an expert. Some of the largest companies in Korea and overseas rely on Yulchon’s Human Resources Team for this type of advice. We strive to ensure that our clients are first informed of critical labor issues and provide creative solutions to address their challenges. When necessary, we represent our clients in labor disputes and defend their rights in court and before administrative agencies. We also have extensive experience anticipating and resolving personnel issues that often arise in the course of business restructuring projects.
Major Practice Areas
Yulchon’s Human Resources Team provides a full range of labor and employment services, including:
- Terminations and Layoffs.
We regularly provide counsel regarding terminations, temporary layoffs, notice requirements, and other regulatory requirements.
- Contracts and Restrictive Covenants.
We draft and provide counsel regarding non-competition agreements, nondisclosure agreements, and other trade secret protection agreements and policies. We also draft separation agreements, employment agreements, and other types of labor agreements.
- Internal Policies.
We draft and verify health and safety policies, employee handbooks, work rules, and disciplinary policies and procedures. We also provide management training and sexual harassment and discrimination training.
- Benefits.
We provide advice regarding pensions, compensation, overtime, maternity requirements, medical benefits, severance pay, and all other mandatory and customary benefits provided to employees.
- Recruiting and Executive Compensation.
We advise on executive compensation and recruitment issues, such as compensation, benefits, and logistics.
- Corporate Restructuring.
We help create and implement restructuring plans, operation closings, operation establishments, secondment arrangements, employee transfers, and mergers and acquisitions.
- Litigation.
We defend our clients against compensation claims, wrongful termination claims, discrimination claims, and other related claims.
- Due Diligence and other M&A Related Advice.
We conduct due diligence and advise on human resource related matters in M&A transactions.
- Labor Relations.
We draft, interpret, and negotiate collective bargaining agreements and advise on and handle strikes and other labor disputes.
Recent Transactions
- Advised multi-national clients on internal policies, layoffs, sexual harassment and discrimination training, restructuring plans, and employee work rules.
- Advised multi-national clients on employee benefits, separation agreements, confidentiality agreements, and executive compensation and benefits.
- Advised a renowned non-profit organization on employee benefits, executive recruiting, and other compliance issues.
- Advised a major internet bidding company on employee benefits, recruiting, employee relations, and compliance issues.
- Successfully defended the interests of several multi-national clients before the Seoul District Labor Committee and in the Korean courts.
- Successfully represented a public health care institution in a case regarding a business transfer.
- Drafted collective bargaining agreements and handled negotiations and labor relations for several multi-national clients.
- Drafted employment agreements and related agreements for professional sports teams in Korea.
