Paternity leave work-sharing support expanded to 20 consecutive days; training allowance for current employees introduced; injured workers' data request rights strengthened

A father on parental leave [Getty Images Bank]
A father on parental leave [Getty Images Bank]

The government will begin subsidizing employers at small and medium-sized enterprises when colleagues cover the workload of a staff member on paternity leave and the employer compensates them for doing so. The measure aims to encourage fathers to take a more active role in child-rearing while reducing the staffing burden on smaller companies.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Tuesday that the Cabinet approved amendments to the enforcement decrees of the Employment Insurance Act and the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act. Both revised decrees take effect July 1.

Under the amendments, the work-sharing subsidy — previously available only when an employee took parental leave or reduced working hours for child-rearing — will be extended to cover paternity leave as well. Employers will now be eligible for the subsidy when a worker takes 20 consecutive days of paternity leave, colleagues absorb the resulting workload, and the employer pays them additional compensation.

The work-sharing subsidy is a system under which the government supports employers who pay monetary compensation to workers who take on duties left by a colleague on leave. The ministry said it expects the change to lower the barrier for small and medium-sized enterprises to grant paternity leave and to broaden fathers' participation in childcare.

Eligibility requirements for the regional employment promotion subsidy will also be tightened. The subsidy supports companies that relocate, establish or scale up operations in employment-crisis zones and hire local job seekers from those areas.

Going forward, companies must begin operations within six months of filing a regional employment plan to qualify for the subsidy. However, the deadline may be extended by up to one year when unavoidable circumstances — such as large-scale facility investment — apply.

The criteria for paying parental leave benefits will also be revised to align with the short-term parental leave system set to take effect in August. The existing monthly calculation standard will be adjusted proportionally to the number of leave days taken, allowing benefit adjustment rules to apply to leave periods as short as one to two weeks.

A new legal basis for providing vocational training allowances to current employees has also been established. The allowance, previously available only to job seekers and prospective hires, will be extended to employees at small and medium-sized enterprises and to foreign workers. When a priority-support company holds a group training session of four or more hours on a weekend, participants receive 50,000 won ($33) per day — or 75,000 won for youth participants.

The amendments to the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act enforcement decree include measures to strengthen the rights of workers injured on the job. The decree now explicitly requires employers to provide injured workers, upon request, with documents needed to file insurance benefit claims — including employment contracts, wage-related records, and materials on workplace hazards and risks such as material safety data sheets.

The process for recognizing noise-induced hearing loss as an occupational injury will also be improved. Specialized hearing examinations were previously available only at Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service hospitals, tertiary hospitals and general hospitals. Eligible institutions will now expand to include clinics and smaller hospitals that meet certain requirements. The ministry projected that adding 100 such facilities would cut the current average waiting period of 234 days by about 80 days.


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