There is a moment in a Korean final-settlement statement where the leave payout looks too small. You counted on “a year worked, so fifteen days”, and eleven arrived instead. It is not an error and not the employer shortchanging you. Finish exactly one year and the fifteen days never come into existence.
1. What splits. Resign at 365 days and 11 days are payable; at 366 days, 26 — fifteen days turn on one day.
2. Why. In decision 2021Da227100, handed down on 14 October 2021, the Supreme Court held that the employment relationship must still exist on the day after the first year is completed for the 15 days to arise. The Ministry of Employment and Labor changed its interpretation to match on 16 December 2021.
3. What it is worth. On a monthly ordinary wage of KRW 3,000,000, a day is KRW 114,833, so those 15 days come to KRW 1,722,488 — fifteen times what that extra day of work itself pays (our own calculation).
The gap the statute does not close
Article 60 of the Labor Standards Act splits annual leave in two. Paragraph (1): an employer “shall grant 15 days of paid leave to a worker who has attended for 80 per cent or more of one year”. Paragraph (2): for a worker “whose continuous service is less than one year”, one day of paid leave per full month worked.
Nowhere does the text say how the two join up. Whether paragraph (1) switches on at the moment one year is completed, or only after it has been passed, cannot be settled from the wording. For years the practice was to count “a year done, so 11 + 15 = 26”.
One sentence from the Supreme Court
What settled it was Supreme Court decision 2021Da227100, handed down on 14 October 2021. The core holding: the employment relationship must be subsisting on the day after the first year of service is completed for paragraph (1)'s 15 days to arise. Leave is granted for the year worked, to be taken in the year ahead — and someone who is leaving has no year ahead in which to take it.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor revised its administrative interpretation on 16 December 2021 to match. Before that, a worker resigning after exactly one year could claim payment for the 15 days; after the decision, they cannot.
| Time worked | Accrued under one year | The year-one 15 days | Payable |
|---|---|---|---|
| One year (365 days), then resign | 11 days | never arises | 11 days |
| One year and a day (366 days), then resign | 11 days | 15 days | 26 days |
One day separates those two rows. What that day creates is fifteen.
Twelve months, eleven days
The companion puzzle is why the under-one-year total is 11 and not 12. One day per full month across twelve months ought to be twelve.
The answer is the same rule. The day earned by a full month also attaches on “the day after” that month ends. The day after the twelfth month ends is already past the one-year mark, so stopping exactly at one year leaves you with eleven. Hired on 2 March, the first day appears on 2 April rather than 1 April, and the eleventh on 2 February of the following year.
Three full years works the same way
The rule repeats at the added-day stage. Article 60(4) requires one extra day for every two years of continuous service beyond the first, once three years are reached — 16 days in year three, 17 in year five. But finish exactly three years and resign, and that added day does not attach, because there is no employment relationship on the day after the three years are complete.
| Continuous service | Leave that attaches that year | If you leave on the exact date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 15 days | does not attach — only the 11 |
| 2 years | 15 days | does not attach — only what is left of the prior grant |
| 3 years | 16 days (15 + 1 added) | does not attach |
| 5 years | 17 days (15 + 2 added) | does not attach |
Landing exactly on the anniversary costs you every time. Work one more day and that year's entire entitlement arises — and anything unused is settled in cash.
Putting it in money
Unused-leave pay is one day of ordinary wage × days unused, and a day of ordinary wage is the monthly figure ÷ 209 × 8 hours. At KRW 3,000,000 a month that is KRW 14,354 an hour and KRW 114,833 a day (our own calculation).
| Monthly ordinary wage | One day | 11 days | 26 days | The gap (15 days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KRW 2,500,000 | 95,694 | 1,052,632 | 2,488,038 | 1,435,407 |
| KRW 3,000,000 | 114,833 | 1,263,158 | 2,985,646 | 1,722,488 |
| KRW 3,500,000 | 133,971 | 1,473,684 | 3,483,254 | 2,009,569 |
| KRW 4,000,000 | 153,110 | 1,684,211 | 3,980,861 | 2,296,651 |
Do not read the amounts down a column — what compares is 11 against 26 within one row. In every row the gap is fifteen days' pay, which is exactly fifteen times what that additional day of work is worth. For your own figures, put a hire date and a leaving date into the annual leave calculator.
So should I push my leaving date back a day?
On the arithmetic, yes. But this article will not tell you to do it. A leaving date is fixed by your resignation and the employer's acceptance, and moving it to capture leave pay is not always available. Handover schedules, the date your social insurance coverage ends, and a new employer's start date are all tied to it.
What can be said is only that deciding while knowing this is different from deciding without it. If the date is still open, run the numbers before you fix it. If it is already fixed, use this to check the leave line on your settlement statement against the table above.
Three things to check on a settlement statement.
1. Is the leave figure 11 days or 26 — and does that match whether you worked 365 days or 366 or more?
2. Is the daily rate built on ordinary wage? Gross pay divided by 209 and ordinary wage divided by 209 are not the same number.
3. Was there a year in which the employer sent a written leave-promotion notice? If all the steps were completed, that year's unused leave lapses with nothing payable (art. 61).
Wage claims are subject to a three-year limitation period (art. 49). If fewer than three years have passed since you left, a mis-settled leave payment can still be claimed.
Questions that remain
I completed the year. Why is there no 15 days — I did the work.
Because leave is granted for the year worked, to be taken in the year ahead. In 2021Da227100 the Supreme Court held that the employment relationship must exist on the day after the first year is completed for article 60(1)'s 15 days to arise, and the Ministry of Employment and Labor revised its interpretation to match on 16 December 2021. It is not that the pay for work done disappears; it is that the 15 days never arise in the first place. The 11 days accrued during the first year are still settled.
Does a one-year fixed-term contract always end at 11 days?
If the term is exactly one year and it ended on that date, yes. But if it was extended or renewed by even a day, so that a relationship existed on day 366, the 15 days arise. A contract's stated end date and the actual last working day sometimes differ, so check the contract and the date your social insurance coverage ended together.
If I used all the leave I earned in the first year, is the settlement zero?
For those 11 days, yes — days taken were already paid time off, so nothing remains. But if a relationship existed on day 366, a separate 15 days arose and that remains. It is an easy place to get confused, so split your leave record by service year when you check.
My employer paid 26 days under the old rule. Do I have to give it back?
This article will not assert that you do. Recovering money already paid turns into a question of unjust enrichment or the employment rules, and we could not verify the governing standard from a primary source. Paying more than the statute requires is also something the Act does not prohibit. If you actually receive a demand for repayment, check it with the labor helpline (1350) or a licensed labor attorney.
If I leave at exactly three years, is it 16 days?
No — that year's 16 days do not arise, because there is no employment relationship on the day after the three years complete. It is the same mechanism as at the one-year mark. What remains is leave that arose in the previous service year and has not been used. For the day count by year of service, see the annual leave calculator.
Sources
- Labor Standards Act, article 60 — the wording of (1) 15 days, (2) one day per full month, and (4) one added day every two years from three years' service. Read from two separate sources with the wording and figures matching.
- Supreme Court 2021Da227100 (14 October 2021) — source for the rule that the employment relationship must subsist on the day after the first year is completed for the 15 days to arise. Read from two summaries of the decision rather than the judgment itself.
- Ministry of Employment and Labor reinterpretation (16 December 2021) — source for the position that 15 days cannot be claimed on resignation after exactly one year. The circular number could not be confirmed.
- Labor Standards Act, article 49 — three-year limitation on wage claims.
- Every amount is our own calculation — one day of ordinary wage = monthly ordinary wage ÷ 209 × 8. The 209 is (40 + 8) × 365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12 = 208.571 rounded, a convention that appears in no statute.
Where to check further
- Whether you worked 365 days or 366. This turns on a day or two — count it from the start date on your contract and the date your social insurance coverage ended. Your last working day and your official leaving date can differ.
- Whether the daily rate used was ordinary wage. This article stops at the formula — which allowances count needs your payslip and employment rules, and the labor helpline (1350) will decide.
- Repayment of leave pay already received. Outside this article's scope — check case by case with 1350 or a licensed labor attorney.
- Employers running leave on a fiscal year. The figures above use the hire-date basis — a 1 January basis produces different numbers year by year, so read your employment rules first.
Written as at August 2026. The statutory text was read from the source, the decision and the reinterpretation were cross-checked against two summaries, and every amount in the tables is our own calculation. Repayment of amounts already paid and fiscal-year conversion could not be verified and are not asserted. Real settlements turn on employment rules and payment practice, so confirm with payroll before you leave. The statute as a whole is covered in the annual leave explainer, and the pay calculation in what unused leave is worth. This is general information, not legal advice.
