Renewal expectation of fixed-term seafarers and the employer's rational reason

1. 01Question

   Where a fixed-term worker has a justified expectation that the employment contract will be renewed, is an employer's unreasonable refusal of renewal void, is the post-expiry employment relationship the same as a renewed contract, what criteria govern the expectation of a worker who signed a fixed-term contract after reaching retirement age, who must prove a rational reason for the refusal, and does the same law apply to a seafarer under the Seafarers Act?

2. 02Holding

   It is void. A fixed-term worker's status normally ends with the term, but where the contract, work rules or collective agreement provide for renewal, or where the content of the contract, the motive and circumstances of its making, the setting and practice of renewal criteria and procedure, and the nature of the work together form a relationship of trust, the worker has a justified expectation of renewal, and an unreasonable refusal has no effect, the post-expiry relationship being the same as a renewed contract. For a worker who signed after reaching retirement age, the expectation is judged with further regard to the ability the job demands, the worker's suitability, the degree of age-related decline in efficiency or increase in risk, and the practice of employing and renewing contracts with older workers at that workplace; if a refusal defeats a formed expectation, the Court weighs the circumstances to test whether its reasons and procedure are objective, rational and fair by social standards, and the employer bears the proof. The same law applies to a fixed-term contract of a seafarer under the Seafarers Act.

   Summary of the holding, verbatim

   근로자에게 그에 따라 근로계약이 갱신될 수 있으리라는 정당한 기대권이 인정되는 경우에는 사용자가 이를 위반하여 부당하게 근로계약의 갱신을 거절하는 것은 부당해고와 마찬가지로 아무런 효력이 없다.

   Unofficial English translation

   Where an employee is recognized as having a legitimate expectation that the employment contract may be renewed accordingly, the employer's unfair refusal to renew the employment contract in violation thereof is of no effect, just as in the case of unfair dismissal.

3. 03Disposition

   Dismissed Stated in the decision

   상고를 모두 기각한다. 상고비용은 피고와 피고 보조참가인이 부담한다.

   Unofficial English translation

   All appeals are dismissed. The costs of the final appeal shall be borne by the defendant and the intervenor supporting the defendant.

4. 04Form of the test

   Circumstances weighed Stated in the decision

   등 근로관계를 둘러싼 여러 사정을 종합하여 갱신 거부의 사유와 절차가 사회통념에 비추어 볼 때 객관적이고 합리적이며 공정한지를 기준으로 판단하여야 하고

   Unofficial English translation

   , etc., by comprehensively considering the various circumstances surrounding the employment relationship, whether the reasons and procedures for the refusal of renewal are objective, reasonable, and fair in light of socially accepted ideas, and

5. 05Factors

   • 근로계약, 취업규칙, 단체협약 등에서 기간만료에도 불구하고 일정한 요건을 갖추면 근로계약이 갱신된다는 규정을 두고 있거나
   • 근로계약의 내용과 근로계약이 이루어지게 된 동기와 경위, 계약 갱신의 기준 등 갱신 요건이나 절차의 설정 여부와 그 실태, 근로자가 수행하는 업무의 내용
   • 해당 직무의 성격에서 요구되는 직무수행 능력과 근로자의 업무수행 적격성, 연령에 따른 작업능률 저하나 위험성 증대의 정도
   • 사용자의 사업 목적과 성격, 사업장 여건, 근로자의 지위와 담당 직무의 내용
   • 근로자에게 책임 있는 사유가 있는지 등

   Unofficial English translation

   • Where the employment contract, rules of employment, collective agreement, etc. contain a provision to the effect that the employment contract is renewed if certain requirements are met notwithstanding the expiration of the term, or

   • the content of the employment contract, the motive and circumstances under which the employment contract was concluded, whether renewal requirements or procedures, such as the criteria for contract renewal, have been established and their actual state, the content of the work performed by the employee

   • the capability to perform the duties required by the nature of the relevant position and the employee's suitability for performing the work, the degree of decline in work efficiency or increase in risk due to age

   • the employer's business purpose and nature, the conditions of the workplace, the employee's status and the content of the duties in charge

   • whether there is a cause attributable to the employee, etc.

6. 06Relation to precedent

   Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision

   대법원 2017. 10. 12. 선고 2015두44493 판결

   Unofficial English translation

   Supreme Court Decision 2015Du44493 decided October 12, 2017

   Decisions referred to

   대법원 2011. 4. 14. 선고 2007두1729 판결(공2011상, 925), 대법원 2017. 2. 3. 선고 2016두50563 판결, 대법원 2017. 10. 12. 선고 2015두44493 판결(공2017하, 2111)

7. 07Burden of proof

   The opposing party Stated in the decision

   그러한 사정에 관한 증명책임은 사용자가 부담한다.

   Unofficial English translation

   The burden of proof as to such circumstances lies with the employer.

8. 08Open question and revisit condition

   What evidence will show that a refusal of renewal by the operator of an island-support route was objective, rational and fair by social standards once a seafarer's justified expectation has formed?

   A later decision treating seafarers differently from other fixed-term workers would require this entry to be read again, as would an amendment to Article 2(i) or Article 32 of the Seafarers Act or to Article 21 of the Act on the Prohibition of Age Discrimination in Employment and the Promotion of Employment of the Aged.

Read 2026-10-25 · Cross-read 2026-10-25. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.

Every entry is published only after all quotes have been matched character by character against the official text, and audited by an independent second reading from a different model family across all eight axes. Both agreed axes and text-grounded interpretive divergences are recorded openly. The ledger is a research record, not an assessment of the court or advice on any matter.