How the parental leave benefit is set

What the benefit is

Article 19(1) of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act says an employer shall allow leave when a worker applies for it to raise a child aged 8 or under or in the second grade of elementary school or below. During that leave the employer need not pay wages; Employment Insurance pays a benefit instead. That is the parental leave benefit, and Employment Insurance Act art. 70 is its basis.

How much is set not by the Act but by its Enforcement Decree (Act art. 70(4)). Decree art. 95 sets the standard benefit and art. 95-3 the special cases for both parents and for single parents, and the amounts changed substantially on 2025-01-01. This app uses the post-reform figures by default and, given a start date, applies the previous rules to the months before the reform.

The length is set by art. 19(2) of the same Act. Up to one year, and up to 6 more months, 18 in all, when both parents each take 3 months or more for the same child, for a single parent, or for the parent of a child with a disability. Under art. 19-4(1) the leave may be split into up to three parts, and Decree art. 95(2) counts the parts together for the benefit.

The rules the statutes set

The standard benefit is Decree art. 95(1). Item 1: from the first day of leave through month 3, the ordinary monthly wage as of the first day, but ₩2.5M if higher and ₩0.7M if lower. Item 2: months 4 to 6, the same with a cap of ₩2M. Item 3: from month 7 to the end, 80 percent of the ordinary monthly wage with a cap of ₩1.6M. The floor is ₩0.7M in all three.

Both parents taking leave is Decree art. 95-3(1). When both insured parents take leave for the same child before the child turns 18 months (the periods need not overlap), the first 6 months pay each parent's ordinary monthly wage, and the cap depends on how many months each parent takes. When each takes 6 months: ₩2.5M in the first and second month, ₩3M in the third, ₩3.5M in the fourth, ₩4M in the fifth and ₩4.5M in the sixth. The floor is ₩0.7M for each parent, and from month 7 it is 80% with a cap of ₩1.6M.

The single-parent case is Decree art. 95-3(3). A mother or father under art. 4(1) of the Single-Parent Family Support Act receives the ordinary monthly wage through month 3 with a cap of ₩3M, months 4 to 6 with a cap of ₩2M, and 80% from month 7 with a cap of ₩1.6M, all with a floor of ₩0.7M.

Eligibility is Employment Insurance Act art. 70(1): at least 30 days of leave, and an insured period of 180 days or more before the first day. Under art. 70(2) you apply from one month after the start until 12 months after the end. Decree art. 95(3) pays an incomplete month in proportion to the days on leave, and art. 98 deducts from the benefit whatever your employer pays you because of the leave beyond your ordinary monthly wage.

What this calculator does

This is what the code does, in order. It takes the ordinary monthly wage, the months of leave, the case (standard, both parents, single parent), the spouse's months in the both-parents case, and the start date. It trims the months to the limit in art. 19(2): 12 for standard, 18 for a single parent, and for both parents 18 when you and your spouse each take 3 months or more, otherwise 12. If it trims, the result says so.

It then decides which rules each month falls under. Without a start date every month uses the 2025-01-01 rules. With one, it builds each month's period: a month that ends before 2025-01-01 uses the previous rules, one that starts after uses the reformed rules. Addenda arts. 3 and 4 of the amending decree of 24 Dec 2024 apply the reformed rules to periods on or after 2025-01-01 even for leave that began earlier, and art. 7 keeps the previous rules for the period before. A month that straddles that date mixes the two amounts by days and is marked.

It reads the month's rate and cap from the table for the case. The wage is multiplied by the rate and rounded down to the won; anything above the cap becomes the cap and anything below ₩0.7M becomes ₩0.7M. In the both-parents case the special cap for one of the first 6 months applies only when the spouse has reached that month too. Months the spouse did not reach are not spelled out in the decree, so they use the standard rule for that month and are marked.

Months under the previous rules split the deferred pay. Former art. 95(4) paid 75 percent each month and the rest as a lump sum after six months back at work. Under former art. 95-3(4), the first 6 months of the both-parents case and the first 3 months of the single-parent case were paid in full. Months under the reformed rules are paid in full each month.

The total adds every month, and the part paid monthly and the part paid after returning to work are shown separately. Leave that began before 2024-01-01 is not calculated: the special caps were different again then, and this app did not transcribe that text.

Copying the result link puts the numbers you entered into the address as parameters. Nothing is stored on a server, and whoever opens the link gets the same calculation redone on their own screen.

Filling it in

The ordinary wage is the pay you receive regularly and uniformly as of the first day of leave: base pay plus fixed monthly allowances. Bonuses that depend on performance and reimbursement-type allowances are usually excluded. Your payroll staff calculate it, so entering only the base pay from your payslip may understate the result.

If you split the leave, enter the months added together. Three months now and six later is 9, and the later six months fall under the rules for months 4 to 9. Decree art. 95(2) says so.

Choosing both parents asks for your spouse's months. The special cap applies only when both of you have reached that month, so enter the months your spouse actually took or will take. When your spouse takes 3 months or more and so do you, the limit opens to 18 months.

The start date is used only to split months around 2025-01-01. If you started after the reform the result is the same with or without it. If you started before, enter it so the earlier months use the previous rules.

Leave that began before the reform, and deferred pay

Before the 2025-01-01 reform, former art. 95(1) paid 80 percent of the ordinary monthly wage with a cap of ₩1.5M and a floor of ₩0.7M, the same in every month. Former paragraph 4 paid only 75 percent of that each month and the rest after six months or more back at work. That is the deferred pay, and since paragraph 4 was deleted in the reform there is none in months under the reformed rules.

The previous both-parents caps were ₩2M in the first month, ₩2.5M in the second, ₩3M in the third, ₩3.5M in the fourth, ₩4M in the fifth and ₩4.5M in the sixth, then 80 percent with a cap of ₩1.5M from month 7. A single parent had a cap of ₩2.5M for the first 3 months, then 80 percent with a cap of ₩1.5M. These figures were read from the text in force from 1 July 2024.

Leave that began in 2024 and ran into 2025 mixes the two. For twelve months starting 1 July 2024, the six months of 2024 use the previous rules with the ₩1.5M cap, and the six months of 2025 fall under the reformed rule for month 7 onward, 80% with a cap of ₩1.6M. The reformed rules look at which month of leave it is, so someone whose fourth month is January 2025 gets the ₩2M cap of months 4 to 6.

The amending decree promulgated on 18 Aug 2026 and in force from 18 Sep 2026 leaves the rates and caps in arts. 95 and 95-3 unchanged. It only adds to art. 95-3(2) a male worker who takes leave to care for a pregnant spouse. Checked 2026-09-07.

Where people get stuck

If your ordinary wage is above ₩2.5M, the first 3 months are all ₩2.5M. That is what the cap does; a higher wage does not raise the benefit. Conversely, if the wage is below ₩0.7M, or 80% of it from month 7 falls below ₩0.7M, you receive ₩0.7M.

The amount drops from month 7 because the rate goes from 100% to 80% and the cap from ₩2M to ₩1.6M. If you split the leave, the first month of the later part may already be month 7.

The both-parents cap for a month applies only when both parents have each reached that month. If your spouse takes only 3 months, your fourth month does not get the 3.5M cap. This app works that month out as standard benefit and marks it, but the Employment Center decides.

If your employer pays you during leave, the benefit can be reduced under Decree art. 98, and that reduction is not in this table. An incomplete month is paid by days, and this table counts whole months. When the actual payment differs from the table, it is usually one of these two or a different ordinary wage.

This calculator is not labour counselling. Questions about applying and payment are answered by Work24's simulation and application pages, the Ministry of Employment and Labor helpline 1350, and your Employment Center.