Ⅰ. Understanding Motherhood Protection

The Korean government is taking steps to protect motherhood through specific provisions stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea as well as other practical provisions stipulated by various labor laws. Despite these protection laws, the birthrate has decreased to an average of just 0.92 persons per couple as of 2019, and the government has strengthened its efforts in response towards revising labor laws designed to promote workforce participation by women and also increase the birthrate.

Ⅱ. Protection of Maternal Employees

A maternal employee refers to a woman who is pregnant or is within her first year after childbirth, and is therefore provided special protection under the various laws so designed.

1. Employment in hazardous/dangerous work prohibited

Employers shall not assign maternal employees to mentally and physically hazardous work. In addition, they shall not assign women aged 18 or older who are not pregnant to work that is hazardous to their possible future pregnancy and/or childbirth. Occupations that are prohibited are described in the attached Table 4 of the Presidential Decree(Article 65 of the LSA(Labor Standards Act)).

2. Restrictions on extended work, night work and holiday work

(1) Extended work
Employers shall not place pregnant female employees on overtime duty or flexible work, and, in the event of such a request from the employee, she shall be assigned light duties. Employers shall not permit women for whom less than one year has passed since childbirth to work more than 2 hours in overtime per 8-hour work day, and 6 hours per work week of 40 hours, even if so agreed in a collective agreement(Article 51, 71, 74 of the LSA).

(2) Night work and holiday work (Article 70 of the LSA)
Employers shall not assign maternal employees to work at night(from 10 P.M to 6 A.M.) or on holidays. However, exception to such restrictions on night work and holiday work are possible in cases where the employer obtains permission in advance from the Minister of Employment and Labor and ① there is consent from the employee for whom less than one year has passed since childbirth; or ② a pregnant woman makes such a request.

3. Protection leave for maternal employees

(1) Maternity leave

Employers shall grant pregnant female employees 90 days of maternity leave(120 days if a woman is pregnant with two or more babies), to be used before and after childbirth. In such cases, a minimum of 45 days(60 days for multiple babies) shall be allocated after childbirth. At the end of the maternity leave, the employer shall allow the female employee to return to the same work, or other work at the same rate of pay as before the leave. The first 60 days(75 days for multiple babies) of leave shall be paid. The remaining 30 days(or 45 days for multiple babies) qualify for reimbursement of up to 2 million won through employment insurance, provided, that for companies eligible for preferential support, the employee concerned will receive the first 60 days’ maternity leave allowance(up to 2 million won per month) from employment insurance. In this case, the employer will pay the amount of the ordinary wage exceeding the government subsidy(Article 74 of the LSA).
Employers shall not dismiss any female employee during a period of temporary interruption of work before or after childbirth as provided herein and within 30 days thereafter. For the purpose of calculating annual paid leave, the maternity leave shall be regarded as attended days. Also, in calculating the average wage for purposes of severance payment, the period of maternity leave and the wage paid during the maternity period shall be deducted from the calculation of average wage required to be included in the period and wage.



(2) Advance maternity leave

In cases where an employee who is or was recently pregnant requests leave due to a miscarriage or other pregnancy-related reason, the employer shall allow her to take leave at any time prior to the expected due date. In any case, 45 or more continuous days(60 days for multiple babies) shall be provided after childbirth or miscarriage.

Reasons for advance maternity leave are as follows(Article 74 of the LSA).
① In cases where a pregnant employee went through a miscarriage or stillbirth in the past;
② In cases where a pregnant employee is over 40 years of age at the time of the request for maternity leave; and
③ In cases where a pregnant employee submits a medical document issued by a hospital that describes the danger of miscarriage or stillbirth.

(3) Maternity leave for miscarriage or stillbirth

At the request of a female employee who has suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth, the employer shall grant her leave for miscarriage or stillbirth, except where the miscarriage is the result of an artificially-induced abortion. If a female employee who has had a miscarriage or stillbirth asks for maternity leave, she must submit to the employer an application for miscarriage or stillbirth leave, providing the reason for the request for leave, the date of the miscarriage or stillbirth and the pregnancy period, along with a medical certificate issued by a medical organization. In cases of miscarriage or stillbirth, the employer shall pay the ordinary wage for the period given for maternity leave, just as with a normal maternity leave, as follows:

① A pregnancy period of 11 weeks or less: five days from the date of miscarriage or stillbirth;
② A pregnancy period of 12 weeks or more but less than 15 weeks: ten days from the date of miscarriage or stillbirth;
③ A pregnancy period of 16 weeks or more but less than 21 weeks: thirty days from the date of miscarriage or stillbirth;
④ A pregnancy period of 22 weeks or more but less than 27 weeks: sixty days from the date of miscarriage or stillbirth; and
⑤ A pregnancy period of 28 weeks or more: ninety days from the date of miscarriage or stillbirth.

(4) Reduced working hours during the pregnancy period
In cases where a female employee who is pregnant for 12 weeks or less or 36 weeks or more applies for reduced working hours, the employer shall allow it. Provided that the pregnant employee’s current working hours are fewer than 8 per day, the employer may reduce her working hours to 6 hours per day. The employer cannot reduce the wage of the employee due to the reduced working hours(Article 74 of the LSA).

(5) Allowing paid time off for prenatal examinations
If a pregnant female employee requests time off from work to receive a regular prenatal health checkup, the employer shall allow her to do so. An employer shall not reduce an employee’s wage on the grounds that she took time off for the relevant health checkup. The paid time off allowance for prenatal examinations is as follows: ① one time every two months up to the 7th month of pregnancy; ② one time per month during the 8th and 9th months; ③ one time every two weeks during the 10th month or later(Article 74-2 of the LSA, Article 10 of the Protection of Motherhood Act).

4. Paternity Leave

If an employee requests leave on the grounds of his spouse giving birth, the employer shall grant him paid leave of up to 10 days. The leave may not be requested after a lapse of 90 days from the date when the employee’s spouse gave birth(Article 18-2 of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Act). Paternity leave will also be usable on two separate periods if desired.
To reduce the burden on SMEs of this extended period of paid leave, the government will pay for 5 days of those paternity leave benefits(100% of normal wage) for SME workers.

5. Nursing hours

A female employee who has an infant under twelve months of age shall be allowed to take paid nursing recesses, twice per day for at least 30 minutes each(Article 75 of the LSA).

Ⅲ. Childcare Leave and Reduced Working Hours for the Childcare Period

1. Childcare Leave

Employers shall grant childcare leave if an employee asks for it to take care of his/her child(including an adopted child) aged 8 or under who is attending up to the 2nd grade of elementary school. This shall not apply in such cases where ① an employee has offered continuous services in the business concerned for less than 6 months prior to the scheduled date of childcare leave, or ② an employee’s spouse is on childcare leave for the same infant. An employee who intends to apply for childcare leave shall submit to his/her employer an application with documentation verifying the birth date of the infant to be cared for, not less than 30 days prior to the scheduled start date of leave.
The period of childcare leave shall be one year or less. The childcare leave can be used all at once or at two different times, up to a total period of one year. The period of childcare leave shall be included in the employee’s continuous service period. Employers shall not dismiss or give any other unfavorable treatment to a employee on account of taking childcare leave, nor dismiss the employee concerned during the childcare-leave period; provided that this shall not apply if the employer is not able to continue operating his/her business. After the end of the childcare leave, the employer shall restore the employee to the same work as before the leave, or any other work paying the same level of wage. In calculating the attendance rate for the annual paid leave, the period of childcare leave shall be included for the contractual working hours, which means that the annual paid leave is granted for the period of actual work. The period of childcare leave for a fixed-term employee or a dispatched employee shall not be included in the employment period or the dispatched period.

2. Reduction of working hours for the childcare period(Article 19 of the Equal Employment Act, Article 73-2 of the Employment Insurance Act):

If an employee eligible to ask for childcare leave requests a reduction of working hours instead of childcare leave, the employer shall grant it. However, the employer is not required to grant it in cases where it is not possible to hire replacement personnel, and where it causes a considerable difficulty for the normal operation of business If the employer does not grant the reduction of working hours for the childcare period, the employer shall notify the employee in writing of the reason for such decision, and have the employee take normal childcare leave or else consult with the employee as to whether to support him/her through other measures. Employers shall not apply unfavorable working conditions to an employee who works reduced working hours for the childcare period on grounds of the working hour reduction, except when applying them in proportion to the usual working hours.
The period of working hour reduction for the childcare period shall be two years or less. If the employer grants a reduction of working hours for the childcare period to the relevant employee, the working hours after reduction shall be a minimum of 15 hours per week but shall not exceed 35 hours per week. Employers shall not dismiss or give any other disadvantageous treatment to the employee on account of the working hour reduction. After the period of working hour reduction is over, the employer shall restore the employee to the original work or to other work paying the same level of wage as before the reduction of working hours.

Ⅳ. Menstruation Leave


An employer shall, if requested by a female worker, grant her one day’s menstruation leave per month (Article 73).


Menstruation leave is given to female employees who suffer from physical and/or mental difficulties at work due to her menstruation. The leave shall be granted to an employee who requests it, regardless of whether or not she has come to work for all the contractual working days of the given month. On the basis of the revised law that now recognizes menstruation leave as unpaid leave, the employer does not have to pay an allowance for the use of the leave, if requested. However, allowance shall be paid if both parties agree differently in the collective agreement, rules of employment or labor contract. Though menstruation leave is now considered unpaid, it is permitted by law to consider it paid so as to have no effect on attendance in calculating the number of contractual working days and rate of attendance for weekly holiday, annual paid leave, etc.