To keep useful overtime records in Korea, record actual start and finish times, real breaks, assigned work, and the message or schedule behind it each day. Check those entries against the employer’s attendance system before payroll closes. A monthly total such as “about 20 extra hours” is much harder to reconcile than dated entries.

This guide focuses on preparing an accurate record and a specific payroll question. The pay examples use a standard adult employee under an ordinary working-time arrangement at a workplace regularly employing at least five people. Flexible schedules, statutory exceptions, and part-time arrangements can change the calculation.

Employee comparing work-time notes with attendance records at an office desk.
AI-generated editorial illustration; not a photograph of a specific venue or an official procedure diagram.

Know which hours you are recording

For the standard arrangement, MOEL describes overtime as actual work beyond eight hours a day or 40 hours a week, excluding breaks. A day over eight hours can matter even if the week stays below 40. See MOEL’s working-time replies, including September 10 and 17, 2026 (checked October 16, 2026).

Labor Standards Act Article 56 sets a premium of at least 50% of ordinary wages for covered overtime and for night work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.; holiday work has separate thresholds. Statutory text version effective October 8, 2026; checked October 16, 2026. Recording time accurately comes before deciding which premiums apply.

1. Make one entry for every working day

A notes app or spreadsheet is enough. Use these fields consistently:

  • Date and scheduled shift: include whether the day was a scheduled workday, rest day, or designated holiday.
  • Actual work: start, finish, and any separate work session after leaving.
  • Breaks: actual start and end, plus any interruption and what you were required to do.
  • Reason and instruction: task, requester, time of request, and whether approval was obtained.
  • Supporting reference: attendance entry, roster, email, or message location.

Write the entry while you can still remember it. If you correct it later, add the reason rather than silently rewriting the earlier version. Keep a factual distinction between “I was in the office” and “I was doing assigned work.”

2. Record interrupted breaks and after-hours tasks precisely

A clock-out time or a calendar block does not explain what happened during it. If you answered required customer calls through lunch, note the minutes and instructions. If a late message arrived, record the work you actually performed, not every hour between the message and your response.

MOEL’s guidance on deciding what counts as working time looks at the employer’s direction and control and the specific circumstances, including participation requirements and restrictions. The page gives no separate effective date; checked October 16, 2026. Do not assume every training session, trip, social event, or phone notification has identical treatment.

Article 54 on breaks requires breaks during work and says workers may use them freely (statutory text version effective October 8, 2026; checked October 16, 2026). Log a disputed “break” as facts for review, rather than deleting it automatically from your own record.

3. Keep the instruction alongside the time

Where possible, confirm an extra assignment before starting: “The report will take about 90 minutes after my shift. Should I proceed, and which overtime code should I use?” If approval was given verbally, send a neutral recap.

Keep records you are entitled to access, such as your own roster and correspondence. Preserve context and dates. A screenshot of one message may omit an earlier instruction or later cancellation, and a computer login alone does not establish every minute as work. Avoid copying unrelated customer information or confidential files into a personal folder.

4. Reconcile before the payroll cutoff

Ask when payroll closes and which dates each pay period covers. Compare your daily entries with the attendance portal weekly. Flag missing shifts, automatic break deductions, and rejected time submissions while the details are fresh.

For example: “On October 14, I worked 09:00–20:00 with a one-hour break, so I recorded ten hours of actual work. The attendance system shows eight. Please review the report assignment and confirm the corrected entry.” This gives payroll one discrepancy to resolve.

For a simple daytime workday example, two covered overtime hours at a confirmed ordinary hourly wage of ₩12,000 produce ₩36,000 including the 50% premium. This illustration excludes holiday and night work and assumes the ordinary-wage rate is already established; do not calculate that rate by guessing from take-home pay.

What if your salary already includes fixed overtime?

Ask which hours and allowance the contract covers, then compare actual work with that allowance. MOEL’s September 15, 2026 explanation of fixed-overtime enforcement states that an employer must pay the difference when agreed allowances fall below statutory allowances calculated from actual work. It summarizes guidance implemented April 9, 2026; the April 8 announcement and September 15 release were checked October 18, 2026.

If the figures still disagree, prepare a dated list of disputed entries, the relevant contract provision, attendance records, and payroll’s response. Ask for a case-specific review instead of assuming a universal multiplier settles the issue. Your record should let another person reconstruct the work and identify exactly where the calculation differs.