Before You Quit to Care for Family: 90 Days of Care Leave, 10 Care Days, and a 15-to-30-Hour Week

The definition of 'family' comes first

The law's family means grandparents, parents, spouse, spouse's parents, children, and grandchildren (Article 22-2(1)). Siblings are not included. Parents-in-law are covered under "spouse's parents."

Caring for a grandparent or grandchild carries one extra condition. If there is a lineal descendant of that grandparent, or a lineal ascendant of that grandchild, besides you, the employer may refuse. In plain terms: if someone other than you can care for your grandmother, the company has grounds to say so. No such proviso attaches to parents, spouse or children.

Ninety days and ten days — but they overlap

This is the most commonly missed point. The two are not separate accounts.

• Family care leave — up to 90 days a year. It can be split, but each block must be at least 30 days. In practice that means at most three pieces.
• Family care leave days — up to 10 days a year, taken in single-day units. Ten separate single days is allowed.

And the proviso to Article 22-2(4)2 nails it down: "the period of family care leave days shall be included in the period of family care leave." If you have used 10 leave days this year, your remaining long-form leave is 80 days, not 90. It is not 90 + 10 = 100.

There is a route by which the 10 days become 20. Where a serious-stage crisis alert is issued over an infectious disease outbreak and similar situations, the Minister of Employment and Labor may extend the entitlement by up to 10 days a year after deliberation by the Employment Policy Council (15 days for a single parent under the Single-Parent Family Support Act). That puts the ceiling at 20 days, or 25 for a single parent. The extended days cannot be used freely, though: the grounds are specified — the family member is a patient, suspected patient or pathogen carrier of the relevant infectious disease; the child's school, kindergarten or daycare centre is under a closure or suspension order; or the child is subject to self-quarantine or a stay-away instruction from school.

If you are refused, the company owes you a written reason

The employer's grounds for refusal are narrow. It must fall within what the Enforcement Decree specifies — where hiring a replacement worker is impossible, or where it would seriously disrupt normal business operations. When refusing, the employer must notify the reason in writing, and is placed under a duty to endeavour to provide alternative measures: adjusting start and finish times, restricting overtime, or shortening or flexibly operating working hours (Article 22-2(3)).

The rules on family care leave days are tighter still. There are no grounds for refusal at all; if granting them at the requested time would seriously disrupt operations, the employer may only change the timing in consultation with the worker. "No" is not an answer the statute provides for.

Receiving a request and failing to grant it draws a fine for negligence of up to 5 million won (Article 39(3)7 and 8). Going further and dismissing a worker or worsening their conditions because they took the leave is not a negligence fine but imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won (Article 37(2)6). The penalty for detrimental treatment is far heavier.

Reducing instead of quitting — 15 to 30 hours a week

The less familiar instrument is reduced working hours for family care and other purposes (Article 22-3). The "other purposes" in the name exist because there are four grounds.

• Caring for a family member because of illness, accident or old age
• Attending to the worker's own health after their own illness or injury
• A worker aged 55 or over preparing for retirement
• The worker's studies

Reduced hours must land between 15 and 30 hours a week. A request to cut down to 10 hours falls outside what the law permits. The period is up to one year as a rule, and for the first three grounds — family care, own health, retirement preparation — it may be extended by up to two further years, for a maximum of three. Only the study ground cannot be extended.

This is often the better option than taking leave outright: income does not stop entirely and social insurance enrolment continues uninterrupted. That matters most while you are waiting on a long-term care grade decision and shuttling between hospital and office. The long-term care grade process, from application to determination, typically runs about 30 days, and there is no need to burn leave across all of it.

What the company cannot do during reduced hours

Article 22-4 sets separate conditions for workers on reduced hours.

• Other than applying terms in proportion to working hours, the employer may not worsen working conditions because of the reduction. Pay falling with hours is proportional application; excluding you from a bonus scheme or from promotion is a different matter.
• The post-reduction conditions must be set out in writing. A verbal understanding is hard to argue later.
• The employer may not require overtime beyond the reduced hours. Where the worker expressly requests it, up to 12 hours a week is permitted. Requiring it without that express request carries a fine of up to 10 million won (Article 37(3)).
• When the period ends, the worker must be returned to the same duties, or duties paying the same level of wages, as before the reduction.

Why your severance pay does not shrink

This is the provision that reassures people most in practice. Periods of family care leave and family care leave days count toward continuous service and are excluded from the period used to calculate average wages (Article 22-2(7)). The reduced-hours period is likewise excluded from the average-wage calculation period (Article 22-4(4)).

Why it matters: severance pay is calculated on the average wage over the final three months of employment. Leaving while on unpaid leave or on a 20-hour week would put those three months at rock bottom and could halve the payout — so the law carves that stretch out of the calculation. If you already understand how severance is calculated from average wages, the weight of this clause is immediately visible. Because the period does count toward continuous service, the reference date for annual leave accrual is not disturbed either.

Is any of it paid?

To be straight about it: the law does not require family care leave or family care leave days to be paid. The structure where benefits are paid out of employment insurance, as with short-term parental leave, is not attached to this scheme. Some employers treat it as paid through their rules of employment or a collective agreement — which is precisely why you check the internal rules before applying.

There is, separately, a provision under which the Minister of Employment and Labor may support employers that put these measures in place (Article 22-2(9)). Subsidy programmes for employers adopting reduced working hours connect here, so when a company says it cannot afford it, mentioning that support exists tends to move the conversation along faster. Eligibility and amounts change year to year — check the current figures with the Ministry of Employment and Labor customer service centre (1350).

The order to apply in

1. Confirm the person you are caring for falls within the six categories the law lists. 2. Choose by how many days you need: a day or two at a time means leave days (10); a month or more at the bedside means long-form leave (90 days, minimum 30-day blocks); splitting time between hospital and office means reduced hours (15 to 30 hours a week). 3. Subtract the leave days already used this year to work out the long-form leave remaining, since the days count against it. 4. Check the internal rules for whether it is paid and which form applies, then apply in writing. 5. If refused, ask for the written notice and the reason, and keep a record of the alternative-measures consultation. 6. If the employer fails to grant it, or penalises you for taking it, you may file a complaint with the competent regional office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

This article sets out general standards based on Articles 22-2, 22-3, 22-4, 37 and 39 of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act as in force in August 2026. Actual operation may differ with workplace size and rules of employment, and this does not substitute for legal judgment on an individual case.