How to Read Your EPS Standard Labor Contract — 10 Boxes to Check Before You Sign (Form No. 6, 2026)

The contract you sign as a worker coming to Korea under the Employment Permit System isn't a document your employer drew up. Article 9(1) of the Act on the Employment, Etc. of Foreign Workers requires the use of a standard labor contract prescribed by Ordinance of the Ministry of Employment and Labor. A company's own template was never an option to begin with, and an employer who breaks this rule can face an administrative fine of up to 5 million KRW under Article 32(1)1 of the same Act.

That form is [Attached Form No. 6] of the Enforcement Rules, the "Standard Labor Contract." It runs from item 1 to item 12, but only boxes 1 through 10 are actually filled in with values — items 11 and 12 are pre-printed contractual clauses. So there are exactly ten boxes to scan before you sign.

There's a specific reason it's hard to read. The two columns of the form are Korean and English. Even if you look for a column in your own language to compare against, there isn't one. A translation in your sending country's language is a separate information sheet, not part of the form, so you may not have it in hand. On top of that, the contract travels electronically from your home country through the Human Resources Development Service of Korea and the sending agency — it's not a table where you sit across from the employer and negotiate terms.

So the realistic goal isn't "getting it changed." It's knowing what's written and knowing where to ask. The ten boxes below are laid out in that order.

First check — is the contract you received actually this form?

Even within the Employment Permit System, the form varies. Find your row before you read the rest.

That second row matters a lot. The agriculture/livestock/fishery form has a clause printed right on it stating that the rules on working hours, breaks, and holidays don't apply at all. If you don't know which form you received and calculate using the general standards, your whole calculation goes off.

Why "standard" — the employer's own template was never allowed

Using the standard labor contract isn't a recommendation; it's an obligation under Article 9(1) of the Act. The penalty for violating it is an administrative fine of up to 5 million KRW under Article 32(1)1 of the same Act, and it's imposed on the employer, not the worker.

There's a second layer on top. Article 17(1) and (2) of the Labor Standards Act require that when a labor contract is concluded, wages, contractual working hours, holidays, and annual paid leave be specified, and that a written document stating the components of wages and the calculation and payment methods be given to the worker. Violating this carries a criminal fine of up to 5 million KRW under Article 114(1) of the same Act.

The 10 boxes to check before signing — the at-a-glance checklist

These are the item numbers and names exactly as they appear in the original form. Just find the matching number on your physical copy.

Item 11 is an agreement to abide by the labor contract, rules of employment, and collective agreement, and item 12 states that matters not covered by this contract follow the Labor Standards Act. Both are pre-printed, so there's nothing to fill in.

Box 1, Term of Labor Contract — the clock starts on your entry date, not your signing date

This is the most frequently misunderstood box. Box 1 of the form has this printed on it: "The term of a labor contract for a newly entering or re-entering worker shall be counted from the date of entry." The same rule appears in Article 17(1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Foreign Workers Employment Act — the labor contract takes effect on the date the foreign worker enters Korea.

Only re-entry under the "sincere worker" program (Article 18-4(1) of the Act) works differently. In that case, you count from the day you enter and begin work.

The upper limit on the term is set by your permitted employment period. Article 9(3) of the Act allows an employer holding an employment permit and a worker to conclude or renew a contract by agreement within the period under Article 18 — that is, three years from the date of entry. If the employment period is extended under Article 18-2, you can conclude another contract within that extended period under Article 9(4) of the same Act.

The same box also has a spot to check whether a probation period will be used, and if so whether it's 1, 2, or 3 months. Read this check mark together with "wages during probation" in box 7 — they're a set.

Probation doesn't automatically mean your wage can be cut. Article 5(2) of the Minimum Wage Act allows an amount different from the minimum wage only for a person who ① concluded a contract for a period of one year or more and ② is within three months from the day probation began, and the reduction permitted under the Presidential Decree is 10 percent of the hourly minimum wage. Moreover, the proviso to that same paragraph excludes workers in simple labor occupations announced by the Minister of Employment and Labor from any reduction.

Boxes 2 and 3, Place of Employment and Description of Work — two lines already printed on the form

For these two boxes, the sentences printed beside them are more useful than the values filled in.

• Next to box 2 (Place of Employment), the form prints: "The employer shall not have the worker work at any place other than the one specified in this contract."
• Next to box 3 (Description of Work), it prints: "Be sure to state the specific duties the foreign worker will perform at the workplace."

In other words, the grounds for later asking "why am I being made to work somewhere else?" are already inside the contract. If box 3 is filled in with a single word like "manufacturing" or "agriculture," it falls short of the specificity the form requires. Flag it as something to ask about before signing.

If the place and duties written in the contract differ from reality, that can qualify as grounds for changing workplaces. That said, whether it's recognized under Article 25 of the Foreign Workers Employment Act is decided by the competent Employment Center, so we can't declare yes or no here. The procedure and deadlines are laid out in E-9 Workplace Change Procedure — read that first, then consult.

Boxes 4, 5, and 6, Working Hours, Breaks, Holidays — place them side by side with the Labor Standards Act

Looking at the numbers in the contract alone, you can't tell whether they're high or low. Put the legal standards next to them.

Start with box 5. If you work 8 hours a day but the break is written as 30 minutes, that falls short of the Article 54 standard, so it's something to ask about before signing.

There's one caveat the form states outright about premium pay. Box 7 of the form prints "For overtime, night, and holiday work, an allowance shall be paid with a 50% premium on ordinary wages," along with "This does not apply to workplaces with 4 or fewer regular employees." That's because Article 11(1) of the Labor Standards Act applies the Act to workplaces with 5 or more regular employees. We won't go into which other provisions do and don't apply at workplaces with fewer than 5 employees — we couldn't verify the list of provisions against primary sources.

Boxes 7, 8, and 9, Wages — compare against the minimum wage and confirm "bank transfer"

The benchmark for comparison is the 2026 minimum wage of 10,320 KRW per hour (2,156,880 KRW converted to a monthly figure). What counts toward the minimum wage and what doesn't, and where the calculation diverges by industry and workplace size, is covered separately in 2026 & 2027 Minimum Wage and Industry Exceptions.

Here we'll only look at box 7. Put the "monthly ordinary wage" figure written in box 7 next to the benchmark above. But if the contractual working hours in your contract differ from 209 hours a month, don't compare the monthly converted amount directly. In that case it's safer to convert to an hourly rate and measure it against 10,320 KRW.

Box 8 is the payment date. Either "the ○th of each month" or "○day of each week" must be filled in. If it's blank, you lose the basis for later disputing "when was I supposed to be paid?"

Box 9 might be the most practical box on the whole form. You mark either "direct payment" or "bank transfer," and printed underneath is: "The employer shall not keep custody of a bankbook or seal in the worker's name." This carries the same intent as Article 43(1) of the Labor Standards Act, which requires wages to be paid directly to the worker in currency and in full.

Box 10, Accommodation and Meals — a blank amount is normal

A lot of people get anxious here. They receive a contract where box 10's "worker's cost burden: ○ KRW per month" is blank and think they got the wrong document.

The form prints this right below: "The level of cost borne by the worker shall be determined separately by consultation between the employer and the worker (for newly entering or re-entering workers, after entry)." Having this box blank at the moment you sign in your home country is exactly the normal state the form anticipates.

The problem is the timing of that consultation. The amount gets decided after you've already arrived in Korea and moved into that housing, so you're talking about it from a position where other options are hard to come by. That's why it's better to gather as much information as you can before entry.

You do have grounds to ask. Article 22-2(2) of the Foreign Workers Employment Act requires the employer to provide, in advance when concluding the labor contract, information on the dormitory's structure and facilities, location, living environment, and floor area, and the same applies when these are changed after the contract is concluded. Paragraph 1 of the same Article requires the dormitory to meet the standards in Article 100 of the Labor Standards Act. If only the housing type is checked and you haven't received the information, that's something you can ask about.

Agriculture, livestock, and fishery — the form itself is different

If you work in agriculture, livestock, or fishery, the form you receive is [Attached Form No. 6-2], "Standard Labor Contract (Agriculture, Livestock, and Fishery Sectors)." It's not just a different name — the structure is different.

The basis is Article 63 of the Labor Standards Act. For workers engaged in agriculture and forestry work such as cultivating and reclaiming land and planting, growing, and harvesting plants (item 1), and in livestock, sericulture, and fishery work such as raising animals and gathering, catching, or farming marine animals and plants (item 2), the provisions on working hours, breaks, and holidays do not apply.

So if you received this form, don't read the earlier sections on boxes 4, 5, and 6 using the general standards. Calculations like "1 hour of break" or "50% holiday work premium" don't apply as written. A good share of EPS information materials explain things only on the basis of the general form, so if you don't check your own form number, it's easy to judge by the wrong standard.

Rights that aren't in the contract — item 12 pulls in the Labor Standards Act

Checking all ten boxes doesn't make the contract safe. And conversely, a right doesn't cease to exist just because there's no box for it.

Item 12 of the form prints: "Matters not specified in this contract shall be governed by the Labor Standards Act." That means the parts not written in the contract aren't left blank — the Labor Standards Act fills them in. This one line covers the limits of a ten-box checklist.

However, an exception is printed in the footnote to that same item. Foreign workers engaged in domestic service and private caregiving may freely contract all working conditions with the employer, including working hours, holidays, and leave. If you fall into either of these two fields, don't assume the standards in the sections above apply as written.

And there are things we can't settle here — whether the probation reduction applies to your job, whether your workplace has 5 or more regular employees, whether what you received is the agriculture/livestock/fishery form, whether a mismatch between the contract and reality counts as grounds for changing workplaces. All of these turn on individual facts, so you need to consult with your own contract in front of you.

What to do right after you sign

First, get one copy of the contract. This isn't a favor. Article 16 of the Enforcement Decree of the Foreign Workers Employment Act requires that when an employer or the Human Resources Development Service of Korea concludes a labor contract or acts on behalf of one, two copies of the contract be prepared and one of them handed to the foreign worker. If the employer keeps the original and won't give you a copy, you have a provision to cite.

Second, photograph it as soon as you receive it. Shoot every single page, and check that the signature area and the text in box 1 (contract term) and box 7 (wages) are still readable when zoomed in. Blurry photos are hard to use as evidence later.

Third, set up a place to store it in advance. Right after entry, you won't have an alien registration card, a Korean bank account, or a Korean phone number, so there's a window where cloud services and app sign-ups are blocked. The surest approach is to create an email account and cloud storage while you're still in your home country and email the photos to yourself.

Fourth, know which number to call when something goes wrong. There are two separate channels, and if you call the wrong one first, it won't get resolved in a single call.

• Ministry of Employment and Labor Customer Consultation Center ☎1350 — labor issues like wages, working hours, or not receiving a contract
• Immigration Contact Center ☎1345 — residency issues like visa status or applying to change workplaces

The multilingual service languages and operating hours of the two channels differ from each other and change over time. How to use each channel is covered in Labor and Living Consultation Channels for Foreigners, and the full Employment Permit System procedure is in EPS Employment Permit System Application Procedure. If your issue involves your period of stay, also see E-9, D-2, and F-6 Stay Extension.

You can decide later whether to take it as far as filing a report. Consultations where you only ask "what does my situation fall under?" are perfectly fine, so just start by picking up your contract and asking.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1. What if my employer wants to use the company's own contract template? For employment under the Employment Permit System, using the standard labor contract is an obligation under Article 9(1) of the Foreign Workers Employment Act. An employer who violates it can face an administrative fine of up to 5 million KRW under Article 32(1)1 of the same Act. Keep in mind that the structure places the obligation on the employer, not penalties on the worker — and if you're handed a document that isn't the standard form, explain the situation to ☎1350 and confirm before signing.

Q2. Does the contract period start on the day I sign? No. Box 1 of the form prints "The term of a labor contract for a newly entering or re-entering worker shall be counted from the date of entry," and Article 17(1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Foreign Workers Employment Act also sets the effective date of the labor contract as the day the foreign worker enters Korea. If you signed in your home country and entered several months later, that gap doesn't count toward the contract period. That said, for sincere-worker re-entry (Article 18-4(1) of the Act), you count from the day you enter and begin work.

Q3. They say I get less than the minimum wage because I'm on probation. Is that right? It varies from person to person. The reduction under Article 5(2) of the Minimum Wage Act requires all the conditions to be met, and workers in simple labor occupations announced by the Minister of Employment and Labor are excluded from the reduction by the proviso to that paragraph. Check the conditions and the size of the reduction in 2026 & 2027 Minimum Wage and Industry Exceptions. On the contract side, what to look at is whether the probation period checked in box 1 matches the "wages during probation" in box 7. To know accurately whether your job falls under that announcement, take the job duties in box 3 of your contract and confirm with ☎1350.

Q4. I work on a farm and the break time in my contract is written as very short. First look at the number of the form you received. Agriculture, livestock, and fishery use [Attached Form No. 6-2], and that form has a clause printed on it stating that the provisions on working hours, breaks, and holidays don't apply, per Article 63 of the Labor Standards Act. In that case, plugging in the general form's standards (30 minutes for 4 hours, 1 hour for 8 hours) will lead you to the wrong conclusion. The accurate move is to explain both your form number and the work you actually do, and confirm with ☎1350.

Q5. I didn't get a copy of my contract. Can I ask for one? Yes, you have grounds to ask. Article 16 of the Enforcement Decree of the Foreign Workers Employment Act requires that two copies of the labor contract be prepared and one handed to the foreign worker. It's the employer's obligation, so it's not a favor. If you ask and still don't receive it, that also touches on the written-document requirement in Article 17 of the Labor Standards Act — so write down when you signed and where you work, and consult ☎1350.