(1)Childcare Leave (Article 19)
1)The duration of childcare leave shall be one year or less.
2) An employer shall allow the employee who ended the childcare leave to return to the same work, which the employee used to do before the childcare leave, or to the work paying the equivalent level of wages.

(2)Reduced hours of work during childcare period (Article 19-2)
If an employee applies for a reduced number of work hours in lieu of full days of childcare leave, the employer shall allow the employee to work shorter workdays. The reduced hours shall be 15~30 hours a week, and the periods of childcare leave and reduced hours of work combined shall not exceed one year.


Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Act

Article 19 (Childcare Leave)
(1) Where a worker parenting his/her children (including adopted children) younger than eight years old or in the second grade of elementary school applies for temporary retirement (hereinafter referred to as "childcare leave"), the employer shall grant permission therefor: Provided, That the same shall not apply to cases prescribed by Presidential Decree.
(2) The period of childcare leave shall not exceed one year.
(3) No employer shall dismiss, or take any other disadvantageous measure against, a worker on account of childcare leave, or dismiss the relevant worker during the period of childcare leave: Provided, That this shall not apply where the employer is unable to continue his/her business.
(4) After a worker completes childcare leave, the employer shall reinstate the relevant worker in the same work as before the leave, or any other work paying the same level of wages. The period of childcare leave under paragraph (2) shall be included in his/her continuous employment period.
(5) The period of childcare leave of fixed-term workers or temporary agency workers shall not be included in the employment period prescribed in Article 4 of the Act on the Protection, etc. of Fixed-Term and Part-Time Workers or in the period of temporary employment prescribed in Article 6 of the Act on the Protection, etc. of Temporary Agency Workers.
(6) Matters necessary for methods and procedures for application for childcare leave and other matters shall be prescribed by Presidential Decree.

[This Article Wholly Amended by Act No. 8781, Dec. 21, 2007]