Leave

In the first year, employees earn 1 day per month of full attendance, up to 11 days. From the 1-year mark onward, leave starts at 15 days and increases by 1 day every 2 additional years of service, up to a maximum of 25 days.

Under the Korean Labor Standards Act, employers must compensate any unused annual leave days at the employee's ordinary daily wage rate.

Annual leave expires 1 year after it accrues if not used. However, if an employer properly completes the legally required leave encouragement process (written notice twice), they are exempt from paying unused leave compensation. Without the proper encouragement procedures, employees can claim unused leave pay even after the expiry date.

In the first year, employees earn 1 day of leave for each month of full attendance, up to 11 days. Upon completing 1 full year of service, 15 days are granted — but leave days taken during the first year are deducted from this 15-day entitlement. For example, if you used all 11 days in year 1, you would have 4 days remaining (15 − 11) at the 1-year mark.

Ordinary wage is the base pay regularly, uniformly, and fixedly provided to employees — including base salary and fixed allowances. Meal and transportation allowances may qualify as ordinary wage if paid uniformly to all employees regardless of performance. Unused leave compensation is calculated as: ordinary daily wage × number of unused leave days.