Invest KOREA

Days off

Employers shall guarantee employees who have continuously worked for certain working days, at least one paid holiday per week on average and also guarantee holidays as prescribed by Presidential Decree as paid holidays. Such paid holidays may be substituted with particular working days in cases where an employer has entered into a written agreement with a labor representative.

Public Holidays

The regulations on public holidays apply to companies which employ five or more full-time workers. Under the Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act amended on June 29, 2018, private companies are also required to grant paid holidays and substitute public holidays under the Regulations on Holidays of Government Offices. The regulations will go into effect on January 1, 2020 for companies or public institutions with 300 or more employees, on January 1, 2021 for companies with 30 to fewer than 300 employees, and on January 1, 2022 for companies with 5 to fewer than 30 employees.

Statutory Annual Paid Leave

Employers shall grant any employee who has worked for not less than 80 percent of one year a paid leave of 15 days in the following year. Paid leave periods are calculated by adding one day every two years, with the total number of paid leave days, including the additional paid leave days, not exceeding 25 days. Employers shall grant any employee who has worked for less than one year one paid leave day for each month during which the employee has continuously worked. Every employee has the right to claim wages as a substitute for unused annual leave days and the right shall survive even if the right of claim for annual leave terminates. When an employee fails to take a paid leave and the paid leave is terminated although the relevant employer has taken a certain measure to urge employees to spend their paid leave, the employer is not liable to indemnify the employee for any unused paid leave.