Short-term family care leave is an unpaid leave system that allows employees to use 10 days of leave on a daily basis out of 90 days of annual leave granted under the current family care leave, and it has been in effect since January 2020.

However, due to the prolonged closure of daycare centers, kindergartens, and schools as a result of COVID-19, the short-term family care leave, which is set to not exceed 10 days, has limited effectiveness in minimizing the care gap among working couples.

In addition, the short-term family care leave effective under the unpaid leave system imposes a financial burden on households.

Accordingly, the Act aims to convert the family care leave to run under a paid system and allow up to 30 days of its use under the circumstances specified in Presidential Decree, such as the occurrence of a disaster, while imposing an administrative fine on businesses that do not allow their workers to take the leave even after receiving pertinent applications or fail to make full payment for the leave. 

Details

A. Where any employee applies for a leave of absence to care for his/her family because of their illness, accident, senility, or  to rear his/her children, the period of leave shall be made up of paid leave, Provided, that the employers shall be allowed to alter the period via consultation with their workers in the event that granting the short-term family care leave at the time requested by the worker causes a significant disruption to normal business operations (the latter part of Article 22-2 (2) newly inserted). 

B. The period of family care leave shall be up to 10 days a year, and 30 days may be used when prescribed by Presidential Decree, such as a disaster under Article 36 of the Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety or a serious warning under Article 38 of the same Act (Article 22-2 (4) 2).

C. The period of family care leave shall be included in the period of continuous service and excluded from the period of calculating average wages under Article 2 (1) 6 of the Labor Standards Act (Article 22-2 (6)).

D. If an employer does not allow family care leave or does not pay paid leave after receiving an application for family care leave in violation of Article 22-2(2) of the Act,  such employer shall be subject to an administrative fine of up to 5 million won (Article 39 (2) 8).

If an employer does not allow family care leave or does not pay paid leave after receiving an application for family care leave in violation of Article 22-2(2) of the Act,  such employer shall be subject to an administrative fine of up to 5 million won (Article 39 (2) 8).