New labor bill allows hourly deductions from annual leave

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New labor bill allows hourly deductions from annual leave

Published: 07 Apr. 2026, 16:10 Updated: 07 Apr. 2026, 17:08

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Rep. Kim Jung-ho, left, speaks at the beginning of a meeting of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment, and Labor Committee in Yeouido, western Seoul, on April 7. [YONHAP]

A bill allowing workers to use annual leave in hourly increments was approved by the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee on Tuesday.

The proposed amendment to the Labor Standards Act, if passed into law, is expected to give workers greater flexibility in using their time off.

The bill goes beyond the current system of half-day leave taken in morning or afternoon blocks. Details on its implementation are expected to be laid out in a future presidential decree.

The legislation also includes penalties for employers who disadvantage workers for requesting or using annual leave, with violators subject to fines of up to 5 million won ($3,700).

Other bills that would increase the number of paid days for infertility treatment leave and improve work-family life balance were also passed by the committee the same day.

Currently, only two of the six days for infertility treatment leave are paid leave; the revision raises the number of paid days to four.

Legislation that clarifies the scope of punishable offenses related to workplace sexual harassment was also passed by the committee.

In addition to employers, the proposed revisions explicitly include corporate representatives and supervisors, as well as employees who are relatives of the employer or company executives, as subject to penalties for harassment.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]