Korea's 2026-2027 Employment Law Amendments: Notable Developments for Foreign Employers
Korean employment law is changing on a rolling schedule between August 2026 and June 2027. The changes come from two separate statutes. The Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act expands leave and childcare protections. The Labor Standards Act and the Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act raise penalties and add new flexibility around rest breaks and annual leave.
This post lays out what is changing and when, so HR and legal teams can build one implementation calendar instead of reacting six separate times.
Short-Term Childcare Leave
Article 19 of the Equal Employment Act introduces a new short-term childcare leave. Employees may take either one week or two weeks off, once per calendar year, for sudden care needs such as a school closure, a facility holiday, or a child's illness.
This leave counts against the employee's total childcare leave entitlement. It does not, however, count against the statutory limit on the number of times childcare leave can be divided. In effect, employees gain a flexible short-term option without losing the ability to take standard childcare leave in full blocks later.
A Cluster of Family Leave Changes
Three separate changes take effect on the same date.
Spousal childbirth leave expands and is renamed. Under the current Article 18-2, spousal leave can only be taken within 120 days after the birth. The amendment allows employees to begin taking it as early as 50 days before the expected due date. The statutory name changes from Spousal Childbirth Leave to Spousal Pre- and Post-Childbirth Leave.
New leave for miscarriage or stillbirth. Article 18-4 introduces up to five days of leave for a male employee whose spouse experiences a miscarriage or stillbirth. The first three days must be paid. The employee must request the leave within 20 days of the event.
Childcare leave before birth, in limited cases. Under Article 19, male employees could previously take childcare leave only after the child was born. The amendment allows childcare leave before birth where the pregnant spouse faces a risk of miscarriage or premature birth. As with short-term childcare leave, this period counts against the total entitlement but not against the division limit.
A fourth change takes effect the same day under Article 19-2. Employers can no longer refuse an employee's request for reduced working hours during the childcare period solely because a replacement cannot be hired. This narrows what has historically been one of the more common grounds employers relied on to deny the request.
Higher Penalties for Unpaid Wages
Article 107 of the Labor Standards Act raises the maximum criminal penalty for wage nonpayment from three years' imprisonment or a KRW 30 million fine to five years' imprisonment or a KRW 50 million fine.
Infertility Leave and Sexual Harassment Liability
Two changes land together. Article 18-3 keeps the existing six days of annual infertility treatment leave but expands the paid portion from the first two days to the first four days.
Separately, Articles 12 and 39 explicitly bring corporate representatives within the scope of individuals prohibited from committing workplace sexual harassment. The amendment also widens who can face administrative fines. Previously only the employer could be fined, which made it difficult to penalize a relative of the employer who committed harassment. Going forward, corporate representatives and relatives of the employer or representative face the same fines as the employer if they commit harassment.
Higher Penalties for Unpaid Retirement Benefits
Article 43 of the Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act raises the maximum criminal penalty for failing to pay statutory retirement benefits, from three years or KRW 30 million to five years or KRW 50 million. This tracks the same increase applied to unpaid wages under the Labor Standards Act.
A New Exception to the Mandatory Rest Break
Under current Article 54, an employee working four hours must receive at least 30 minutes of rest during that time. In practice, this has meant an employee who wants to leave immediately after a four-hour shift still has to stay on site to use up the rest break.
The amendment permits the employer to waive the break where the employee expressly requests to forego it. This applies specifically to a four-hour workday. It does not give employers a general right to eliminate rest breaks, and the request must come from the employee.
Partial-Day Annual Leave and a New Anti-Retaliation Rule
Two further changes to the Labor Standards Act take effect mid-2027.
Article 60 currently assumes annual paid leave is taken in full-day units. The amendment creates a statutory basis for employees to take leave in smaller increments, based on hourly limits set by Presidential Decree. A proposed Enforcement Decree published on July 13, 2026 would set this at half-day increments, up to five days per year, for a maximum of ten half-day periods annually. This proposal is not final and may change before it takes effect.
Separately, Articles 60 and 114 add an express prohibition on dismissing or otherwise disadvantaging an employee for requesting or using annual paid leave, backed by a new criminal fine of up to KRW 5 million.
This post is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. The Enforcement Decree provisions on partial-day annual leave remain proposed as of this writing and may change before their effective date. For guidance on implementing these amendments in your Korea operation, please consult qualified Korean labor counsel. Feel free to reach out at sjchun@seoulcounsel.com as well.
