Korea Update: Enhanced Childcare Leave Subsidies Expanded

NOTABLE CHANGES TO LEGISLATION

Korean legislation grants parents of children aged eight or younger, or those in the second grade or below, the right to take up to one year of unpaid childcare leave. While this leave does not offer regular pay, the government provides subsidies to numerous employees on such leave. The subsidies are calculated based on the employee’s wage level, with established minimum and maximum limits. Subsidies may be reduced or forfeited if the total of monthly subsidies plus any additional income surpasses the employee’s ‘ordinary wage’.

There were already rules providing for enhanced subsidies for each month that both parents take childcare leave (together or at different times) starting in the first year of the child’s life, up to a maximum of three months. However, under a recent change in the relevant regulations, effective since 1 January 2024:

• the duration during which enhanced subsidies are available has been extended to up to six months, rather than just three;
• the period within which leave qualifying for enhanced subsidies can be initiated has been expanded to the first eighteen months following the child’s birth, instead of just twelve;
• and the upper limit for enhanced subsidies has been raised.

By Yulchon LLC, South Korea, a Transatlantic Law International Affiliated Firm.

For more information on this topic, please contact korealabor@transatlanticlaw.com.

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