Maternity Leave

1.      What's the Maternity Leave in Korea

An employer shall grant a pregnant woman for a 90-day maternity leave before and after childbirth. In such case, after the childbirth, 45 days or more of the leave period shall be allotted. The system is that the woman after the delivery will be exempt the labor duty and guaranteed her rest without the salary loss

(Labor Standard Act)

Article 74 (Protection of Pregnant Women and Nursing Mothers)

(1) An employer shall grant a pregnant woman a 90-day maternity leave before and after childbirth. In such case, after the childbirth, 45 days or more of the leave period shall be allotted.

(2) Where a pregnant female worker requests the leave under paragraph (1) due to her experience of miscarriage or other reasons prescribed by Presidential Decree, an employer shall allow her to use the leave at multiple times any time before her childbirth. In such cases, the period of leave after the childbirth shall be at least 45 days consecutively.

(3) Where a pregnant woman has a miscarriage or a still birth, an employer shall, upon the relevant worker's request, grant her a miscarriage/stillbirth leave as prescribed by Presidential Decree: Provided, That the same shall not apply to an abortion carried out by an operation for an artificial abortion (excluding the cases under Article 14 (1) of the Mother and Child Health Act).

(4) The first 60 days in the period of leave under paragraphs (1) and (3) shall be stipendiary: Provided, that when the leave allowances before and after childbirth, etc. have been paid under Article 18 of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, the payment responsibility shall be exempted within the limit of the relevant amount.

(5) The employer shall not have a female worker in pregnancy assigned to an overtime work, and, if there exists a request from the relevant worker, he/she shall transfer her to an easy type work.

(6) The business owner shall reinstate her to the same work or to the work for which wages of the same level as before leave are paid after the end of a maternity leave under paragraph (1).

2.     How to handle their salary during the leave

   In case of the preferential support company (Harting Korea/ Less than 100 staffs), the period of the paid leave will be 90 days. At the first 60days, the employee will be received 100 % of their salary however if they received the salary from the employment insurance (max. KRW 1,350,000), the amount will be deducted from their salary. During the rest 30 days, employee will be converted the unpaid leave and employment insurance will be paid the salary (Max. KRW 1,350,000 per month)

3. Four Social security Insurance

It's exempted only industrial Disease Insurance and have to keep the other with the changed salary