Korean maternity leave benefit
90 or 120 days, split by who pays which part according to company size.
Article 74 of the Labor Standards Act provides 90 days of maternity leave (120 for multiples), and employment insurance pays ordinary wage up to a cap. The confusing part is who pays: at a priority-support company insurance covers the whole period, while at other companies the employer pays the first 60 days (75 for multiples) at full ordinary wage. The same person therefore receives a different total depending on the employer.
Ordinary wage and employer
What you enter is saved in this browser, so it is still here next time
Use the figure from the ordinary wage calculator.
A single birth.
Insurance covers the whole period. Most small and medium firms qualify.
Changes yearly — enter the current figure.
Benefit
Total
₩6,300,000
Ordinary wage exceeds the cap, so the insurance portion stops there.
From insurance
₩6,300,000 (90 days)
From employer
₩0 (0 days)
Daily ordinary wage
₩100,000
Benefit is counted daily — monthly ordinary wage divided by 30, times the number of days.
The cap changes yearly. Whether an employer is priority-support is set by employee count per industry in Enforcement Decree Article 12 — check with HR or the employment centre.
3,000,000 won a month against a 2,100,000 cap is 100,000 and 70,000 won a day
The benefit is counted by the day. Monthly ordinary wage is divided by 30 for the daily wage, and the cap is divided by 30 for the daily cap. Insurance pays the smaller of the two per day. At 3,000,000 won a month the daily wage is 100,000, but a 2,100,000 cap limits it to 70,000, so 90 days at a priority-support company is 70,000 × 90 = 6,300,000 won. At 2,000,000 a month the wage sits under the cap, so the daily 66,667 won is paid as is — 6,000,000 for 90 days. Fractions of a won are dropped.
Other companies come to 8,100,000 won on the same inputs
The employer pays the full daily wage for the first 60 days; insurance covers the rest within the cap. In the example, the employer portion is 100,000 × 60 = 6,000,000 and the insurance portion 70,000 × 30 = 2,100,000. The employer portion has no cap, so the further ordinary wage exceeds the cap, the larger the total at an other company. With 120 days for multiples the paid-by-employer period is 75 days (Article 74(4)): the employer portion becomes 100,000 × 75 = 7,500,000, the insurance portion 70,000 × 45 = 3,150,000, for 10,650,000 won in total.
The cap is entered by hand
The insurance cap changes every year, so it is not built in. The default of 2,100,000 is a placeholder; check the figure announced for the year and enter it. When ordinary wage exceeds the cap a note says so. How leave is split around the birth, when to file the claim and how tax applies are not covered.
Common questions
QWhat is a priority-support company?
Enforcement Decree Article 12 defines it by employee count per industry — 500 or fewer in manufacturing, 200 or fewer in retail and hospitality, and so on. Most small and medium firms qualify. Check with HR or the employment centre.
QIs anything above the cap lost?
The insurance portion stops at the cap. The employer portion at larger companies (the first 60 days, 75 for multiples) is full ordinary wage with no cap. At a priority-support company, ordinary wage above the cap is simply not paid.
QWhy is the daily wage the monthly figure divided by 30?
It follows the employment insurance practice for this benefit, which divides monthly ordinary wage by 30. Whether the month has 28 or 31 days makes no difference, so calendar length never enters the result.
QAre weekends and holidays inside the 90 days excluded?
No. The 90 and 120 days are calendar days including weekends and public holidays, and this screen multiplies the daily wage by the full count.