Winning your labor complaint doesn't put money in your pocket if your employer's bank account is empty. Even a court judgment leaves you holding paper if there's no property to seize. For exactly that situation, there's a separate system where the state pays your wages first and collects from the employer later. It's the advance payment for unpaid wages, etc. (체불 임금등 대지급금) under the Wage Claim Guarantee Act (임금채권보장법).
A lot of people never find it because of the name. Searching the old names, 체당금 and 소액체당금, still turns up the same system, but the names used today on forms and at service counters are 체불 임금등 대지급금 (advance payment for unpaid wages, etc.) and 간이대지급금 (simplified advance payment). It isn't a brand-new, different program — the same program was simply renamed. Search with the old name if you like, but say the current name at the counter and the conversation moves much faster.
The problem is that this system is missing entirely from the guidance written for foreigners. The Ministry of Government Legislation's Easy-to-Find Practical Law page on "Employment of Foreign Workers > Wages" lists only complaints and criminal charges, civil procedures, legal aid (☎132), and unpaid wage guarantee insurance (up to 4,000,000 KRW) as remedies for unpaid wages — daejigeupgeum never appears (viewed August 26, 2026). In the other direction, the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (COMWEL) page explaining daejigeupgeum doesn't have a single line about nationality, residence status, or passports. So people end up thinking a 4,000,000 KRW guarantee insurance policy is all there is, while a national program with a far higher cap sits right there.
This article covers only the "employer can't pay" situation. Where and how to file a complaint, and how to count what you're owed, are each written up separately, so start with whichever you need.
Note: This article is general information compiled from publicly available laws and government guidance, and it is not legal advice. With daejigeupgeum, the outcome turns on the type of workplace, your last day of work, and the date the insolvency arose, so please confirm the judgment for your own situation at the official contacts below.
The Debt Doesn't Disappear — Only Who Collects It Changes
Understanding the structure first makes this much easier to sit with. Article 8(1) of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act provides that when the state pays daejigeupgeum, the state takes over the claim the worker held against the employer, up to the amount paid. The legal term for this is subrogation. Paragraph 2 of the same article provides that the priority right to repayment of wage claims under Article 38 of the Labor Standards Act and the priority right to repayment of retirement benefits under Article 12(2) of the Act on the Guarantee of Employees' Retirement Benefits stay attached to that claim as well.
In other words, the boss's debt isn't erased — the person collecting it changes from you to the state. You're not taking a handout from the government, and your boss isn't doing you a favor. A lot of people hesitate to file because they're confused on this exact point, but there's nothing to apologize for and nobody to feel awkward around.
One more thing follows from this. Daejigeupgeum only pays out within the coverage scope and caps described below. Anything unpaid above the cap is still yours to claim from the employer. If you treat the case as closed the moment the money lands in your account, you're giving up the rest on your own.
Which Type Applies to You — Your Company Doesn't Have to Go Bankrupt
The grounds for payment are listed in each subparagraph of Article 7(1) of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act. Subparagraph 1 (a decision to commence rehabilitation proceedings), subparagraph 2 (a declaration of bankruptcy), and subparagraph 3 (a recognition of the fact of insolvency, etc. by the Minister of Employment and Labor) fall under 도산대지급금 (the bankruptcy-type advance payment), while subparagraph 4 (a judgment, order, settlement, decision, etc.) and subparagraph 5 (a 「체불 임금등·사업주 확인서」, Certificate of Unpaid Wages and Employer) fall under 간이대지급금 (the simplified advance payment). For people still on the job, Article 7-2 covers it separately.
| Type | Legal basis | Does the company have to be insolvent? | Cap | Where to file |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcy-type (도산대지급금) | Act Art. 7(1) subpara. 1–3 | Yes (a court decision, or a recognition of the fact of insolvency, etc.) | Monthly cap by age (see table below) | Through your local Employment and Labor Office, to COMWEL |
| Simplified, after leaving (간이대지급금) | Act Art. 7(1) subpara. 4–5 | No | 7,000,000 KRW for wages, etc. + 7,000,000 KRW for retirement benefits, etc., 10,000,000 KRW combined | Directly to COMWEL |
| Simplified, while employed (간이대지급금) | Act Art. 7-2 | No | 7,000,000 KRW | Directly to COMWEL |
| Unpaid wage guarantee insurance | Act on the Employment of Foreign Workers, Art. 23 | No | Up to 4,000,000 KRW | Seoul Guarantee Insurance (서울보증보험) |
That bottom row is not daejigeupgeum at all — it's a completely different program. It's guarantee insurance that employers of E-9 and H-2 workers take out, so the governing law, the administering body, the cap, and the place you file are all different. The two only look like overlapping procedures because both ask for the same 「체불 임금등·사업주 확인서」. The insurance side is written up separately in Severance Pay and Departure Guarantee Insurance — the Money to Collect Before You Leave. For the record, we couldn't confirm whether the amounts are adjusted when you receive both, so if both apply to you, ask ☎1588-0075 first.
A recognition of the fact of insolvency, etc. is the route that opens the bankruptcy-type payment without any court proceedings. That said, COMWEL's guidance says only workplaces with 300 or fewer regular employees can apply for it.
If you're still employed, a few more conditions attach. Article 7-2(2) of the Act limits the coverage to the final three months counted backward from the day the most recent nonpayment arose, measured against the day you filed the lawsuit or complaint, and paragraph 4 provides that it's paid only once per workplace for the duration of your employment there. There's also a wage threshold: the Ministry of Government Legislation's guidance states that the average of the ordinary wage (통상임금) set in your employment contract must be less than 110% of the minimum wage. How ordinary wage is calculated is a heavily contested area, so don't judge it yourself — ask ☎1350 or ☎1588-0075.
Three Clocks Are Ticking — 6 Months, 1 Year, 2 Years
This is where people trip up most. Having filed a labor complaint and having claimed daejigeupgeum are two completely different actions. Doing the first does not automatically bring the second.
| Type | Deadline to file the complaint or lawsuit (Enforcement Decree Art. 7) | Deadline to claim from COMWEL (Enforcement Decree Art. 9(1)) |
|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcy-type (도산대지급금) | You must have left the job within 3 years, counting from the day falling one year before the date of the bankruptcy declaration, etc. | 2 years from the date of the decision or the recognition of the fact of insolvency, etc. |
| Simplified, judgment route | File the lawsuit, etc. within 2 years from the day after your last day of work | 1 year from the date of the judgment, etc. |
| Simplified, certificate route | File the complaint, etc. within 1 year from the day after your last day of work | 6 months from the date the certificate was first issued |
How many days it takes from filing a complaint to getting the certificate varies case by case, so it's hard to pin down a total timeline in advance. That's why it's safer to anchor yourself to the right-hand column, where the start date is certain.
The left column and the right column are two different clocks. The left one asks "by when must you raise the issue to qualify at all," and the right one asks "once you qualify, by when must you claim the money." Miss either one and the result is the same.
The shortest clock is the right-hand cell in the bottom row. Once six months pass from the day the certificate lands in your hands, you can't claim even if you meet every other requirement (Enforcement Decree of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act Art. 9(1), as of 2026). Waiting around thinking "I reported it to the labor office, so the money will come" while those six months run out is the classic way this fails. On the day you receive the certificate, mark the issue date on your calendar.
Is My Workplace Covered? — Industrial Accident Insurance and the 6-Month Rule Come First
Article 3 of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act provides that the Act applies to businesses or workplaces under Article 6 of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, carving out only businesses run directly by the national or local government. In other words, the coverage of daejigeupgeum is the same as the coverage of industrial accident insurance. The provision contains no requirement about the worker's nationality or residence status.
There are requirements on the employer's side too. Article 8 of the Enforcement Decree of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act requires that the employer be subject to industrial accident insurance and have operated the business for at least six months. If the workplace you were assigned to opened only recently, the requirement fails even though none of it is your fault. Finding that out after you've already gone through the complaint and the certificate is deflating, so it's worth checking early on when the company started operating. For subcontractors in construction, there's a separate special rule that looks to the immediately-superior contractor.
📌 Important: If you worked in agriculture, livestock farming, or fishing, this is where things can split. According to the Ministry of Government Legislation's summary, non-incorporated agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting businesses with fewer than 5 regular employees, along with household employment activities and the like, are excluded from coverage. That means an E-9 worker placed at an individual farm or fishing household may fall outside the system entirely. Note, though, that this list is carried over from the exclusions under the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, so it's a different axis from the "fewer than 5 employees" discussion under the Labor Standards Act — and a place covered by industrial accident insurance, such as a manufacturing plant, is covered even if it's small. Nor does not being on this list automatically mean you're covered. Start by asking ☎1588-0075 whether the place you worked is a corporation or a sole proprietorship.
How Much Can You Get — What Changed on August 20, 2026
Start with the simplified payment. Wages, shutdown allowance (휴업수당), and pay during maternity leave come to 7,000,000 KRW combined; retirement benefits, etc. come to 7,000,000 KRW; and the total cap across both items is 10,000,000 KRW. So for someone owed only wages, the maximum is 7,000,000 KRW, not 10,000,000 KRW. The simplified payment for workers still employed is also 7,000,000 KRW. If you do your math off the phrase "up to 10 million won," your expectations will be off.
The bankruptcy-type payment works differently. There's a monthly cap set by your age at the time you left the job (applicable from January 1, 2020, per COMWEL's published figures).
| Age when you left the job | Wages, retirement benefits, etc. | Shutdown allowance |
|---|---|---|
| Under 30 | 2,200,000 KRW | 1,540,000 KRW |
| 30 or older, under 40 | 3,100,000 KRW | 2,170,000 KRW |
| 40 or older, under 50 | 3,500,000 KRW | 2,450,000 KRW |
| 50 or older, under 60 | 3,300,000 KRW | 2,310,000 KRW |
| 60 or older | 2,300,000 KRW | 1,610,000 KRW |
Pay during maternity leave is 3,100,000 KRW regardless of age. The numbers in this table are monthly caps, not totals. The result changes depending on how many months are recognized, so get your own total calculated at ☎1588-0075.
And the law changed recently. Act No. 21376 (promulgated February 19, 2026; effective August 20, 2026) amended Article 7(2) to widen the coverage of the bankruptcy-type payment from the final three months to the final six months. The stated reason for the amendment was that limiting coverage to three months made it hard to recover unpaid wages even after leaving the job. Three things need to be read separately.
- Bankruptcy-type (도산대지급금) — wages, shutdown allowance, and maternity leave benefits were expanded to the final six months. Retirement benefits, etc. remain as before, at the final three years' worth.
- Simplified (간이대지급금) — unchanged. Wages, shutdown allowance, and maternity leave benefits all remain at the final three months.
- When it applies — the application example in Article 2 of the Addenda provides that it applies from cases where the decision to commence rehabilitation proceedings, the declaration of bankruptcy, or the recognition of the fact of insolvency, etc. occurs after this Act takes effect. Cases where the insolvency arose before August 20, 2026 are still on three months.
Note: You'll see "the final three months" written on COMWEL and Ministry of Government Legislation guidance pages and on blogs. As of our check on August 26, 2026, neither agency's page had been updated. Whether three months or six months applies to your case depends on when the insolvency arose, so don't take internet posts at face value — confirm at ☎1588-0075.
Step by Step — File the Complaint with the Labor Ministry, Claim the Money from COMWEL
Let's nail down the split between the two agencies first. The complaint and the certificate go through the Ministry of Employment and Labor; the daejigeupgeum claim and payment go through COMWEL. One filing does not carry over to the other, and even the online portals are different websites.
- File the complaint — submit it online at the Labor Portal (labor.moel.go.kr) or at the local Employment and Labor Office with jurisdiction over the workplace. A labor inspector summons the complainant and the respondent and investigates; the processing period is 25 days excluding Saturdays and public holidays, and a second extension is possible.
- Issuance of the 「체불 임금등·사업주 확인서」 — the basis is Article 12 of the Act. The local Employment and Labor Office issues it based on what was confirmed during the labor inspection. You have to apply for it separately as the worker.
- Claim the daejigeupgeum — for the simplified payment, file directly through the Employment and Industrial Accident Insurance Total Service (total.comwel.or.kr) or at the COMWEL regional headquarters or branch with jurisdiction over the workplace. The bankruptcy-type payment is submitted to COMWEL through the local Employment and Labor Office, under Article 5(1) of the Enforcement Rule.
- Payment — Article 8 of the Enforcement Rule provides that the bankruptcy-type payment be made within 7 days from the date the claim form is received, and that a decision on the simplified payment be made within 14 days.
The documents for the simplified payment are the payment claim form, a copy of the Certificate of Unpaid Wages and Employer, the original or a copy of an enforcement title such as a court judgment, the original certificate of finality, and a copy of your bankbook. Some cases need only the certificate while others need a judgment, so check which side you're on and gather the documents before you file.
Tip: The 14 days aren't guaranteed. COMWEL attaches the condition "absent special circumstances such as an unregistered workplace or an investigation into the operating period," and if you don't meet the requirements, the claim can be denied. Also, at the counter you'll hear about a form with a confusingly similar name, the 「대지급금 등 확인신청서」 (Application for Confirmation of Advance Payment, etc.) — that's a different document from the certificate above. Ask which one you need when you file.
Where Foreigners Get Stuck — Bank Account, Departure, Language
From here on are the walls that Korean readers never hit. More people get stuck on this side than on the system itself.
First, the bank account. A copy of your bankbook is on the document list, and yet closing the Korean account early is a common step when preparing to leave the country. On top of that, Article 11-2(1) of the Act provides that the right to receive daejigeupgeum cannot be transferred, seized, or offered as collateral. That means you can't have it paid into a friend's, a coworker's, or the boss's account instead. Close the account after the money arrives. Paragraph 4 of the same article also provides that the deposit claim on an account that received daejigeupgeum cannot be seized.
Second, the 6-month clock collides with your residency timeline. It's six months from the certificate's issue date, but E-9 workers are often pushed out of the country within that window by the expiry of their permitted stay or by a workplace-change deadline. A deadline that's generous for a Korean turns out to be the tightest one for a foreigner. Article 11-2(2) of the Act says receipt may be delegated, but the requirements are left to Presidential Decree, and we weren't able to confirm them in the text of the provision itself. The same goes for whether a transfer to an overseas account is possible. If your departure date is set, ask ☎1588-0075 about delegation and remittance methods before you leave.
Third, language. Because the complaint counter and the claim counter belong to two different agencies, the sequence alone is confusing if you're not used to Korean administration. And we weren't able to confirm how much foreign-language support either counter offers. If you need multilingual help, it's easier to start with ☎1345 or the Foreign Workers Counseling Center at ☎1577-0071, sort out what to prepare, and then move. The full map of service counters is in A Complete Guide to Official Support Hotlines for Foreigners, and how to count what you're owed is in Start by Calculating How Much You Weren't Paid.
Free assistance is also split by eligibility. People aged 15 to 34 can get certified labor attorney (공인노무사) support from the Youth Labor Rights Center; insolvent workplaces with fewer than 30 employees get certified labor attorney assistance; and the Korea Legal Aid Corporation (☎132) serves workers whose average monthly wage for the final three months at the time of nonpayment was less than 4,000,000 KRW. For wage rights while without residence status, see Wage and Industrial Accident Rights of Undocumented Workers separately. We weren't able to confirm how daejigeupgeum is actually handled while undocumented, and this article doesn't make judgments that involve residence status — that goes to ☎1345.
📌 Important: From December 8, 2026, under Act No. 21534 (amended by other legislation on April 7, 2026), the Korean title for labor inspectors changes from 근로감독관 to 노동감독관. If you hear a different name at a counter or on a form, it's the same agency.
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What You Must Never Do — Write What They Dictate and You Pay Back Five Times
There are situations where the employer says, "I'll process your resignation, so write it like this," or "Put down a slightly higher amount." When your language, your residence status, and your housing all depend on that person, saying no is hard. It also feels like refusing will sour the relationship. Even so, this is fraudulent receipt.
Article 14(2) of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act requires the recovery of daejigeupgeum obtained by fraudulent means, and paragraph 3 allows an additional collection of up to five times that amount. The multiplier is set out in Article 11(2) of the Enforcement Rule. If you conspired with the employer to pretend nonpayment occurred, or filed fraudulent claims two or more times within five years, it's five times; if you exaggerated the amount or concealed that you'd already been paid, three times; other fraudulent receipt is two times. Article 14(4) also provides for joint liability between the person who used deception to get someone paid and the person who received it.
There are criminal penalties as well. Article 28(1) provides that a person who receives daejigeupgeum by fraudulent means, and a person who causes another to receive it, shall be punished by imprisonment of up to 3 years or a criminal fine of up to 30,000,000 KRW. Making a false report or submitting false documents in order to obtain it improperly falls under paragraph 2, with imprisonment of up to 2 years or a criminal fine of up to 20,000,000 KRW.
These have actually been enforced. In administrative appeal ruling 2023-24161 (ruled January 9, 2024, partially upheld), a person who had received 10,000,000 KRW in simplified advance payment was hit with recovery of 10,000,000 KRW plus an additional collection of 50,000,000 KRW. The wage portion of the disposition was cancelled because it wasn't objectively proven that there had been no nonpayment, but the severance portion — where the person falsely stated they had left the job while still employed — kept both the recovery and the additional collection.
This section isn't written to scare you. Knowing in advance what's actually happening the moment someone dictates what to put on a form gives you the words to refuse on the spot. If it's ruled fraudulent receipt, the recovery and the additional collection come after the person whose name is on the form, not the employer — and for a foreigner, it can create problems in later residency screenings too.
The answer is simple. When the employer is dictating what to write on the documents, say "I'll check with ☎1350 first." That one sentence is the surest defense. And when you actually call, most of it gets sorted out within a few minutes.
| Where | Number | For what |
|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Employment and Labor Customer Service Center | 1350 (weekdays 09:00–18:00) | Unpaid wage complaints, certificate issuance |
| Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (COMWEL) | 1588-0075 | Daejigeupgeum claims and payment, eligibility |
| Korea Legal Aid Corporation | 132 | Free legal counseling, litigation aid |
| Ministry of Justice Immigration Contact Center | 1345 | Residency and visas |
| Foreign Workers Counseling Center | 1577-0071 | Counseling for foreign workers |
Online, complaints go to labor.moel.go.kr and simplified advance payment claims go to total.comwel.or.kr.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. Can I get it even though the company hasn't gone under? Yes, you can. The one that requires the company to fail is the bankruptcy-type payment (Act Art. 7(1) subpara. 1–3); the simplified payment opens up with either a judgment, etc. under subparagraph 4 of the same paragraph or a 「체불 임금등·사업주 확인서」 under subparagraph 5. There's also a route to receive it under Article 7-2 while you're still employed. Note, though, that workers still on the job face a separate wage threshold based on the employment contract, and it's paid only once for the duration of your employment at one workplace (Art. 7-2(4)). Since that means you also have to judge when to use it, ask ☎1350 or ☎1588-0075 whether you meet that standard.
Q2. I filed a complaint with the labor office, so why isn't the money coming? Because the complaint and the claim are different procedures at different agencies. The Ministry of Employment and Labor investigates and goes as far as issuing the 「체불 임금등·사업주 확인서」; the daejigeupgeum only comes if you take that certificate and file a separate claim with COMWEL. Once six months pass from the date the certificate was first issued, you can no longer claim (Enforcement Decree of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act Art. 9(1)). Write down the issue date right there when you receive the certificate, and mark six months from that day on your calendar.
Q3. I heard you can get up to 10 million won. 10,000,000 KRW is the total cap for the simplified payment, combining 7,000,000 KRW for wages, etc. and 7,000,000 KRW for retirement benefits, etc. So the cap for someone owed only wages is 7,000,000 KRW, and it's 7,000,000 KRW for workers still employed as well. The bankruptcy-type payment is calculated in an entirely different way, using a monthly cap based on your age at the time you left the job. Either way, the state doesn't cover anything above the cap, so you have to keep claiming the remainder from the employer (Act Art. 8).
Q4. Is daejigeupgeum for three months or six months? It splits. Act No. 21376, effective August 20, 2026, extended the wages, shutdown allowance, and maternity leave benefits under the bankruptcy-type payment to the final six months, but the simplified payment stays at the final three months. On top of that, under the application example in Article 2 of the Addenda, the six months applies from cases where the insolvency arose on or after the effective date. As of August 26, 2026, the COMWEL and Ministry of Government Legislation guidance pages still said three months, so most posts out there are written as three months too — confirm the standard for your case at ☎1588-0075.
Q5. I'm leaving Korea soon. Can I close my Korean bank account? Don't close it before the claim is finished. A copy of your bankbook is on the document list for the simplified payment, and Article 11-2(1) of the Act prohibits transferring the entitlement, so you can't have it paid into someone else's account instead. Paragraph 2 of the same article permits delegating receipt, but the requirements are left to Presidential Decree and we weren't able to confirm them in the text of the provision. Whether overseas remittance is possible, and how to appoint a representative after you leave, should be confirmed directly with ☎1588-0075 before departure.
Reference: This article is general information compiled from publicly available laws and government guidance, and it is not legal advice. The provisions, amounts, deadlines, and effective dates in the text are as of August 26, 2026, confirmed against the text of the Wage Claim Guarantee Act and the amendment text of Act No. 21376 on the National Law Information Center, COMWEL's Workers' Welfare Net, the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Labor Portal (labor.moel.go.kr), and the Ministry of Government Legislation's Easy-to-Find Practical Law. Laws and guidance keep changing, and phone numbers and operating hours can change too. In particular, don't judge for yourself whether your workplace is covered by industrial accident insurance, whether it's a corporation or a sole proprietorship, whether the employer has operated for at least six months, whether the insolvency arose on or after August 20, 2026, or whether you meet the wage threshold for currently employed workers — confirm at ☎1350 (unpaid wages and complaints) and ☎1588-0075 (daejigeupgeum claims and payment). Judgments that involve residence status go to ☎1345, and if you need to litigate, ☎132. LACHA is a private transport and payment service unaffiliated with the public agencies above, and it does not handle rights-remedy procedures on your behalf.
