Annual Leave Calculator (Korea) – Paid Leave by Start Date
Find out how many paid leave days you have under Korean labor law, from monthly leave in your first year to the extra day added every two years.
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How Annual Leave Accrues in Korea
Article 60 of the Labor Standards Act sets two stages. During your first year, you earn one paid day for each full month you work without absence, up to 11 days. Once you complete a year with at least 80% attendance, you receive 15 days of annual leave for the following year.
Extra Days for Long Service
After your first year, one more day is added for every two additional years of service, with a ceiling of 25 days. In practice that means 15 days in years one and two, 16 days from year three, 17 from year five, and so on until the maximum is reached after 21 years.
Start-Date vs Fiscal-Year Systems
The law counts leave from each employee's start date, which is what this calculator uses. Many companies instead grant leave on 1 January for everyone, prorating the first partial year. A fiscal-year system is allowed only if it never gives you fewer days than the start-date method, so it is worth comparing the two at the time you leave.
Unused Leave and Exceptions
First-year monthly leave expires one year after your start date, and annual leave generally expires a year after it is granted. Unused leave must be paid out as an allowance unless the employer formally encouraged you to use it. Workplaces with fewer than five regular employees are exempt from these rules.