---
title: "SPECIAL: Labor Attorney Choi's Guide to Hospitality HR — Part 10"
description: "Labor attorney Choi breaks down ordinary wages versus average wages—two terms that sound similar but drive completely different HR calculations in Korean hospitality. One sets your baseline rate; the other tracks real earnings."
published: 2020-05-07T00:00:00+00:00
author: "ONDA 편집팀"
category: "Insights"
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canonical: https://global.onda.me/en/blog?slug=special-coecanggyun-nomusayi-sugbageob-nomu-jeongboghagi-10
locale: en
---
# SPECIAL: Labor Attorney Choi's Guide to Hospitality HR — Part 10

### **Labor Attorney Choi's Guide to Hospitality HR**

#### **10\. Wage Management in Hospitality (Part 1)**

##### Writer: Choi Chang-gyun, CEO, Seocho Labor Law Firm (Labor Attorney)

##### Editor: Somora, Manager at ONDA

Seocho Labor Law Firm is a leading specialist in hospitality HR management.
We currently advise numerous hospitality businesses and deliver training for franchise HQs (Yanolja, Yeogi Eottae, etc.),
helping create workplaces where hospitality professionals thrive.

We believe happy workplaces create happy lives.
This series exists to share essential HR knowledge with the people who build these workplaces together.

Hello, I'm Choi Chang-gyun from Seocho Labor Law Firm. Last time, we covered how to manage and allocate working hours in hospitality. But there's one more critical piece of HR management you can't ignore.

**Wages.** Wages are **compensation paid by the employer to an employee in exchange for their labor**. _Wages are the reason people work—so they're at the heart of HR management. That's why Korean labor law lays out such detailed standards around wage management._

We'll tackle hospitality wage management in two parts. This time, we'll focus on **ordinary wages and average wages**. Next time, we'll dive into **minimum wage compliance**.

### 1\. What Are Ordinary Wages and Average Wages?

Even if you're new to hospitality HR, you've likely heard these terms. They're fundamental to wage management.

**Ordinary wages** are _"hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or piece-rate pay regularly, uniformly, and fixedly determined as compensation for contractual or total working hours."_

**Average wages** are _"the total wages paid to an employee over the three months preceding the calculation date, divided by the total number of days in that period."_

These are legal definitions—so let me break down what they actually mean in practice.

### 2\. How Are They Used?

**Ordinary wages** answer the question: **"What is the worker's baseline pay rate?"** In other words, _the pre-agreed hourly or monthly rate._

Ordinary wages form the basis for calculating:

- Overtime, night shift, and holiday shift premiums
- Weekly paid leave
- Annual leave allowances

**Average wages**, on the other hand, answer: **"What does this employee actually earn on average?"** This isn't the base monthly salary—it's _the actual average daily wage, including all overtime and premiums_.

Average wages are used to calculate:

- Severance pay
- Industrial accident compensation
- Leave allowances during unpaid leave

**Bottom line:** ordinary wages determine your overtime pay calculations. Average wages determine your severance calculations.

### 3\. How Overtime Pay Works

Hospitality operates 24/7—so overtime calculations matter. Here's how premiums apply:

- **Overtime pay**: 1.5× for hours beyond 8/day or 40/week
- **Night shift pay**: 1.5× for work between 10 PM and 6 AM
- **Holiday pay**: 1.5× for work on statutory holidays

### 4\. What Is Comprehensive Wage System?

_In hospitality, overtime happens every day. Calculating it daily can be a nightmare._ So Korean labor law allows **comprehensive wage agreements**—where you pre-calculate and bundle overtime pay into the monthly salary at the time of contract.

A **comprehensive wage system** is an agreement where, when overtime or night work is expected, **the employer and employee agree in advance** to include a fixed amount of overtime pay in the monthly wage—based on mutual consent—for administrative convenience.

The catch: _you must clearly document how many overtime hours are included in that bundled amount._ **This calculation must be accurate**—I strongly recommend consulting a specialist to get it right.

That wraps up Part 1 of wage management in hospitality. I hope this clarifies ordinary and average wages. **Next time, we'll tackle minimum wage compliance.** Thank you.

> **Hospitality HR Consulting (Seocho Labor Law Firm)**

Website: [www.노무법인서초.com](http://bit.ly/laborseocho)

Blog: [https://blog.naver.com/cpla7582](https://bit.ly/laborseocho_blog)

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