Enter your start date to see the annual paid leave you have earned under Article 60 of Korea's Labor Standards Act, when the next days accrue and when they expire. It covers monthly leave in the first year, extra days from the third year, pro rata leave on a calendar-year basis and part-time hours, and shows the shortfall to settle when you leave. Everything runs in your browser.
Working conditions
Below 40 hours you are treated as part-time and leave is counted in hours. Under 15 hours, statutory annual leave does not apply.
Usage and pay · optional
Leave used out of what has not yet expired. The oldest leave is deducted first. For an 8 hour day. Enter it to see pay for the remaining leave.
Enter a start date to see the leave earned so far and the next accrual.
Before the first anniversary, you earn 1 day of paid leave for each month of full attendance (Labor Standards Act, Art. 60(2)). That happens 11 times before the year ends, so up to 11 days. Starting on 1 March, for example, a day is added on the 1st of each month from 1 April to 1 February.
With at least 80% attendance over the year, 15 days accrue the day after the year is completed (Art. 60(1)). Before an amendment that took effect on 29 May 2018, first-year days used were deducted from these 15; that rule was removed, so the first year's 11 days and the second year's 15 are now separate, up to 26 days over two years.
From three years of service, 1 day is added for every 2 years beyond the first (Art. 60(4)). Three years gives 16 days, five years 17, and from 21 years the 25-day cap applies.
Periods follow the calendar (Civil Act, Art. 160). If you start on 31 January, February has no 31st, so the first month ends on the last day of February and the first day of leave accrues on 1 March. The calculator counts from the start date each time so month-end starters do not drift.
Leave is calculated from each employee's start date by default. With agreement from employees, an employer may instead grant everyone's leave on 1 January each year for simpler administration.
On the calendar-year basis, someone who joined mid-year receives 15 days × days worked in the start year ÷ 365 on the following 1 January, while first-year monthly leave keeps accruing separately. A 1 July starter worked 184 days in the start year, so receives about 7.56 days on 1 January.
If calendar-year leave adds up to less than hire date leave when you leave, the employer must pay out the shortfall (Ministry of Employment and Labor guide, 2018). The comparison and the leaving mode in the calculator show that difference.
Leave accrues only if you are still employed the day after the period ends. Korea's Supreme Court held that a worker on a one-year fixed-term contract whose employment ends right at one year does not earn the 15 days (Supreme Court 2021Da227100), and the Ministry of Employment and Labor updated its interpretation to match.
So someone who starts on 1 March and works until 28 February the next year earns only the 11 monthly days. Working one more day, through 1 March, adds the 15 days. Choose 'Leaving' and enter your last working day to see this boundary.
Monthly leave works the same way: leaving on the last day of a month of service does not earn that month's day unless you are still employed the next day.
Leave expires if not used within one year of accruing. Since a 2020 amendment, first-year monthly leave can only be used until the first anniversary. Leave you could not take because of the employer does not expire.
Leave that expires unused can be claimed as pay based on the daily ordinary wage. The employer owes nothing, however, if it formally promoted the leave in writing under Article 61 and you still did not use it.
Paying out leave at year end while it can still be used is not allowed. When you leave the company, the remaining days can no longer be taken, so they are paid out. Leave pay also feeds into the average wage used for severance pay.
The 11 first-year days can only be used until the first anniversary. The 15 days that accrued on 1 March 2026 can be used until 28 February 2027.
15 × 184 ÷ 365 = 7.56 days. The employer's rules decide the rounding, but it must not leave the employee worse off.
With a last working day of 2026-03-01 you are employed the day after the year ends, so the 15 days accrue too, for 26 in total.
Part-time workers receive leave in hours: full-time days × (contracted hours ÷ full-time hours) × 8, with any part of an hour counted as a full hour.
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What it is, who it's for, how it works and why you'd use it.
A Korea Annual Leave Calculator works out the annual paid leave earned under Article 60 of Korea's Labor Standards Act from a start date, along with the next accrual date and expiry dates, and compares the hire date and calendar-year bases.
It is for employees in Korea checking how much leave they can take this year, people checking remaining leave and leave pay before resigning, and HR or office staff at small companies who grant leave.
In the first year it adds 1 day per fully attended month (up to 11), then 15 days the day after one year is completed, plus 1 more day every 2 years up to 25. Periods are counted on the calendar from the start date under Article 160 of the Civil Act, and the calendar-year basis gives pro rata leave of 15 × days worked in the start year ÷ 365.
Leave only accrues if you are still employed the day after a period ends, and first-year leave expires on your first anniversary, so the date rules are easy to get wrong. If your employer grants leave by calendar year, any shortfall against the hire date basis must be paid out when you leave.