ENGLISH

Where an employee applies for reducing working hours for any of the following reasons, his/her employer shall grant it (the main body of Article 22-3 (1) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

Where an employee takes care of his/her family because of illness, accident, or old age

Where an employee takes care of his/her health because of injury, etc. caused by his/her illness or accident

Where an employee aged 55 or older is preparing for retirement

Where an employee wants to study

The period of reducing working hours shall be within 1 year. However, an employee falling under any of Subparagraph 1 through 3 of Article 22-3 (1) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act may extend the period of reducing working hours for an additional 2 years if there is a reasonable reason (Article 22-3 (4) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

If the employer allows the employee to shorten the working hours, the working hours after the reduction must be at least 15 hours per week and should not exceed 30 hours (Article 22-3 (3) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

Employers are not allowed to demand overtime work from employees who are reducing their working hours other than the reduced working hours. However, if the employee explicitly requests it, the employer may request overtime work within 12 hours a week (Article 22-4 (3) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

An employer who gives dismissal or other unfavorable treatment to the relevant employee or puts his/her working conditions at a disadvantage because of reducing working hours for family care, etc. shall be sentenced to up to 3 years in prison or a fine of up to KRW 30 million (Subparagraph 7 and 8 of Article 37 (2) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

If an employee who is reducing working hours for family care, etc. does not explicitly ask for overtime work but the employer requests overtime work, he or she will be fined up to KRW 10 million (Article 37 (3) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

In any of the following cases, reducing working hours for family care, etc. is not allowed (proviso to Article 22-3 (1) in the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act and Article 16-8 of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

In cases where an employee whose work period in the applied place of business is less than 6 months by the day before the scheduled start date of reducing working hours for family care, etc.

Where the employer has applied for a job opening to an employment security agency and has tried to hire substitute employees for at least 14 days, but failed to hire substitute employees (this excludes cases where the head of the employment security agency refuses to hire more than twice without justifiable grounds when introducing a job)

Where it is difficult to divide working hours because of the nature of the work of an employee who applied for reducing working hours for family care, etc., or where an employer proves that reducing working hours for family care causes a significant disruption to the normal business operation

Where an application is filed by an employee for whom 2 years have not passed since the end date of reducing working hours for family care, etc.

Where the employer does not permit reducing the working hours because of the reasons above, he/she shall notify the relevant employee of the reason therefore in writing and have him/her use the leave of absence or consult with the employee whether it is possible to provide support through other measures (Article 22-3 (2) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

An employee who wishes to apply for reducing working hours for family care, etc. shall submit to his/her employer documents (including electronic documents) clarifying the name, birthdate of the family member, the reasons for requiring the care, the scheduled start date, the scheduled end date (hereinafter referred to as “scheduled end date of reducing working hours for family care, etc.”), starting time and ending time of work during the reducing working hours for family care, date of application, and the name of the applicant by no later than 30 days before the scheduled date he/she intended to begin the family care leave (hereinafter referred to as “scheduled start date of reducing working hours for family care, etc.”) (Article 22-3 (1) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act and Article 16-7 (1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

If an employee applies for reducing working hours for family care, etc. after the application period above, the employer must allow reducing working hours for family care by designating the start date of reducing working hours for family care, etc. within 30 days from the date of application (Article 16-7 (2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

If an employee has applied for reducing working hours for family care, etc. according to the above, but has not been notified by the employer of whether to allow reducing working hours for family care, etc. within 30 days from the date of application, the employer shall be deemed to have allowed reducing working hours for family care, etc. as requested by the employee (Article 16-7 (3) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

The employer may require employees who have applied for reducing working hours forfamily care, etc. to submit documents that prove the relevant reasons, such as the family’s illness (Article 16-7 (4) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

The extension for reducing working hours for family care, etc. shall be limited to one. An employee who wishes to apply for reducing working hours for family care, etc. shall submit to his/her employer documents (including electronic documents) clarifying the reasons for extension of the period, scheduled end date of reducing working hours for family care, etc., starting time and ending time of work during reducing working hours for family care, etc., date of application, and the name of the applicant by no later than 30 days before the scheduled end date of reducing working hours for family care, etc. (Article 16-9 (1) and (3) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

If an employee applies for the extension of reducing working hours for family care, etc. after the expiration of the application period above, the employer should designate a period for reducing working hours for family care, etc. within 30 days from the date of application (Article 16-9 (2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

An employer may require an employee who has applied for an extension of reducing working hours for family care, etc. to submit documents to prove the cause, such as his or her family’s illness (Article 16-9 (5) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

An employee who has applied for reducing working hours for family care, etc. may withdraw his/her application by not later than 7 days before the scheduled start date of reducing working hours for family care, etc. (Article 16-10 (1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

If any of the following grounds arises before the scheduled start date of reducing working hours for family care, etc. after an employee applies for reducing working hours for family care, such application shall not be deemed to have been filed, and in such cases, the employee shall notify the employer of such fact without delay (Article 16-10 (2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act and Article 22-3 (1) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

Where an employee applies for reducing working hours to take care of his/her family because of a family disease, accident, or old age: The death, disease, etc. of the relevant family member has been cured.

Where an employee applies for reducing working hours to take care of his/her health because of an injury caused by his/her illness or accident: The disease or injury has been healed.

Where an employee aged 55 or older prepares for retirement or applies for reducing working hours to study: A plan for retirement or study has been canceled because of a change in circumstances.

An employee who is reducing working hours for family care, etc. shall notify the employer of such fact within 7 days from the date on which any of the following reasons arises (Article 16-11 (1) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

Where an employee is reducing working hours to take care of his/her family because of a family disease, accident, or old age: The death or disease of the relevant family has been cured.

Where an employee is reducing working hours to take care of his/her health because of his/her illness or accident: The disease or injury has been cured.

Where an employee aged 55 or older is preparing for retirement or is reducing his/her working hours to study: His/her preparation for retirement or his/her study has been suspended because of a change in circumstances.

After an employer receives a notification pursuant to the above, he/she shall designate the date of return to his/her duties before reducing working hours for family care, etc., and notify the employee thereof within 30 days from the date he/she is notified (Article 16-11(2) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

Employees are considered to have completed reducing working hours for family care, etc. on any of the following days (Article 16-11(3) of the Enforcement Decree of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act).

Where an employee is notified pursuant to the above and notified by his/her employer of the date of return to his/her duties before reducing working hours for family care, etc.: The day before the date of return to his/her duties before reducing working hours for family care, etc.

Where an employee has given a notice pursuant to the above but has not been notified by his/her employer of the date of return to his/her duties before reducing working hours for family care, etc.: On the date when 30 days elapse from the date of notification

Where an employee fails to give notice pursuant to the above: On the date when 37 days elapse from the date on which a cause, such as the death or disease of a family in need of care, occurs.