Korea’s compensatory leave scheme is one sentence, Article 57 of the Labor Standards Act: “An employer may, under a written agreement with the worker representative, grant leave in lieu of paying wages for overtime, night work and holiday work under Article 51-3, Article 52(2) item 2 and Article 56.” The article sets no ratio for how many hours of leave. Because what is replaced is the wage, its size comes from the premiums in Article 56 — overtime at 50 percent or more of the ordinary wage, holiday work at 50 percent up to 8 hours and 100 percent beyond 8 hours, and night work (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.) at 50 percent. Divide that wage by the hourly ordinary wage and you get leave of equal value (our arithmetic): 2 hours of overtime become 3 hours off, overtime after 10 p.m. 2 hours per hour, and holiday work beyond 8 hours 2 hours per hour.
1. The condition — a written agreement with the worker representative (Art. 57). “Leave instead of overtime pay” decided by the company alone is not the scheme this article describes (our reading).
2. The arithmetic — overtime × 1.5, overtime at night × 2, holiday work up to 8 hours × 1.5 and beyond 8 hours × 2, adding 0.5 for every night hour (Art. 56, our arithmetic).
3. Our example — at ₩12,000 an hour, 2 hours of overtime replace ₩36,000 of wages: 3 hours of leave. Add 4 hours of overtime (2 of them at night) and 10 hours of holiday work and it is 23 hours, worth ₩276,000. At 4 or fewer regular workers, Articles 56 and 57 are not in Decree Annex 1.
Calculator
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Results update as you type. Leave hours = overtime × 1.5 + night part of overtime × 0.5 + holiday work up to 8 h × 1.5 + beyond 8 h × 2 + night part of holiday work × 0.5 + night hours inside scheduled time × 0.5. The premiums are the statutory minimums behind Article 56’s “or more”; turning wages into leave hours by dividing by the hourly wage is our arithmetic — Article 57 sets no conversion ratio. Hours are rounded to two decimals and won to the nearest won (our choice). Night hours inside scheduled time count only the 0.5 premium, on the view that the base pay is already in the salary. Enter the holiday hours worked that day; the calculator splits off anything beyond 8. Settlement premiums under Article 51-3 and Article 52(2) item 2 must be worked out separately and entered as overtime.
Articles 57 and 56 — as written
| Provision | What the text says | Points to note (our reading) |
|---|---|---|
| Art. 57 | An employer may, under a written agreement with the worker representative, grant leave in lieu of paying wages for overtime, night work and holiday work under Article 51-3, Article 52(2) item 2 and Article 56. (amended 5 Jan 2021) | No ratio, deadline or treatment of unused leave in the text |
| Art. 56(1) | For overtime (hours extended under Articles 53 and 59 and the proviso to Article 69) the employer must pay an additional 50 percent or more of the ordinary wage. | 1 hour of overtime = 1 hour’s pay + 0.5 premium → 1.5 hours’ worth |
| Art. 56(2) | For holiday work, at least: 1. holiday work up to 8 hours: 50 percent of the ordinary wage; 2. holiday work beyond 8 hours: 100 percent of the ordinary wage. | 1.5 up to 8 hours, 2 hours’ worth beyond |
| Art. 56(3) | For night work (work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next day) the employer must pay an additional 50 percent or more of the ordinary wage. | Adds 0.5 when it overlaps overtime or holiday work (our arithmetic) |
| Art. 51-3 | Where a worker works for a shorter period than the unit period under Articles 51 and 51-2, the employer must pay the Article 56(1) premium for all hours worked beyond an average of 40 a week over the period worked. | Mid-period settlements under flexible hours can also be taken as leave |
| Art. 52(2) item 2 | (Where a settlement period of more than one month is set) pay an additional 50 percent or more of the ordinary wage for hours by which the weekly average for each month exceeds the hours in Article 50(1). | Settlements under selective hours are covered too |
The overtime limit itself is Article 53(1): “by agreement between the parties, up to 12 hours a week”. Turning overtime into leave does not raise that limit — Article 57 replaces wages; it is not a working-hours provision (our reading). The limit is covered in the overtime limit checker.
Six sums — our examples
| Case (our example) | Leave · wages replaced | Points to note (our reading) |
|---|---|---|
| ₩12,000 an hour, 2 hours of overtime | 3 hours · ₩36,000 | 2 × 1.5 |
| ₩12,000 an hour, 2 hours of overtime, both after 10 p.m. | 4 hours · ₩48,000 | 2 × 1.5 + 2 × 0.5 |
| ₩12,000 an hour, 10 hours on a holiday | 16 hours · ₩192,000 | 8 × 1.5 + 2 × 2 — 2 days at 8 hours |
| ₩12,000 an hour, 4 hours of overtime (2 at night) + 10 holiday hours | 23 hours · ₩276,000 | 6 + 1 + 16 — about 2.88 days |
| ₩10,320 an hour, 12 hours of overtime in a week | 18 hours · ₩185,760 | A week at the Art. 53(1) limit — 2.25 days |
| 4 or fewer workers, ₩12,000 an hour, 2 hours of overtime | Outside the statutory scheme · ₩24,000 for the hours, no premium | Arts. 56 and 57 are not in Annex 1 |
₩10,320 is the 2026 hourly minimum wage that our other articles took from the official notice; we did not reopen the notice this time. If your ordinary wage is higher, enter that rate — the hours of leave are the same whatever the rate; only the amount replaced changes.
The hourly ordinary wage you enter is defined by Decree Art. 6. (1) Ordinary wage is the hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or piece-rate amount “set to be paid regularly and uniformly for prescribed work or total work”; (2) to turn it into an hourly figure, a daily wage is divided by the prescribed hours per day, a weekly wage by the weekly reference hours (prescribed hours plus other paid hours), and a monthly wage by the monthly reference hours (weekly reference hours × the average number of weeks in a year ÷ 12). Where pay mixes several of these, the separate hourly figures are added (item 7).
The “holidays” for the holiday premium (Art. 56(2)) are set by Art. 55: (1) at least one paid day off a week on average (Decree Art. 30(1): for those who attended every prescribed workday that week), and (2) holidays set by Presidential Decree — Decree Art. 30(2) names the public holidays in each item of Article 2 (except item 1) of the Regulations on Holidays of Government Offices and the substitute holidays under its Article 3. Article 2 of those Regulations (in force 11 May 2026, Presidential Decree No. 36290) lists the public holidays: (1) Sundays, (2) national days, (3) 1 January, (4) the day before, of and after Seollal, (5) Buddha’s Birthday, (6) Labour Day (1 May), (7) Children’s Day, (8) Memorial Day, (9) the day before, of and after Chuseok, (10) Christmas Day, (10-2) the day of an election held at the end of a term, and (11) other days the government designates (item 6 added by the 30 April 2026 amendment); Article 3 makes the first following non-holiday a substitute holiday when items 2, 5–7 or 10 fall on a Saturday or Sunday, items 4 or 9 on a Sunday, or holidays overlap. So the holidays under Art. 55(2) are these days other than Sunday, plus substitute holidays (our summary). Holidays under (2) may be swapped for a specific workday by written agreement with the worker representative (Art. 55(2) proviso).
Workplaces with 4 or fewer regular workers — Decree Annex 1
Annex 1 (amended 29 June 2018), to which Article 11(2) of the Act and Decree Article 7 point, lists only “Articles 54, 55(1) and 63” in its Chapter 4 (working hours and rest) row. Article 56 (premiums) and Article 57 (compensatory leave) are not there. So at 4 or fewer regular workers no statutory premium attaches to overtime, night or holiday work, and the Article 57 scheme is not a statutory scheme there. Choose 4 or fewer and the calculator leaves the leave hours blank and shows only pay for the hours without a premium (hours × hourly wage) — that amount is our arithmetic.
Penalties — Article 107 punishes a person who breaches Article 56 with up to five years’ imprisonment or a fine of up to ₩50 million. If premiums were withheld and turned into leave without a written agreement, the Article 56 problem would remain (our reading). We found no penalty line naming Article 57 itself.
Related calculators
- If you take it as pay — overtime and night pay calculator, holiday work pay calculator.
- If a holiday is swapped — holiday substitution checker.
- How many hours a week — overtime limit checker.
- Unused annual leave — annual leave allowance.
Checklist
- ☐ A written agreement with the worker representative, stating scope, conversion and deadline for use
- ☐ Whether the workplace has 5 or more regular workers
- ☐ Hourly ordinary wage (base pay and fixed allowances — ask payroll)
- ☐ Overtime and holiday hours, and how many fell between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. (time records)
- ☐ Whether weekly overtime stayed within 12 hours (Art. 53(1))
Questions that remain
If I cannot use all the leave, am I paid instead?
Article 57 only says the employer “may grant” leave; it does not say what happens to leave left unused. That is a matter of Ministry interpretation, which we did not read. Checking whether the written agreement sets a deadline and what happens to unused hours is the clearest route (our reading).
Isn’t one hour of overtime one hour of leave?
What Article 57 replaces is the wage, and the wage for one hour of overtime is the hour’s pay plus at least 50 percent under Article 56(1). Converted at equal value that is 1.5 hours (our arithmetic). Granting more by agreement fits the words “or more”; a conversion that grants less leaves part of the premium unreplaced (our reading).
I worked 10 hours on a holiday. How many hours should I get?
Article 56(2) gives 50 percent up to 8 hours and 100 percent for the 2 hours beyond, so 8 × 1.5 + 2 × 2 = 16 hours’ worth (our arithmetic). Add 0.5 hours for each hour after 10 p.m.
Can I agree it individually with one worker?
The counterparty in the article is the worker representative, which Article 24(3) defines as a trade union organised by a majority of workers (or, if none, the person representing a majority of workers). We did not read whether an individual agreement can stand in for it.
Sources
- Korea Law Information Center — Labor Standards Act Arts. 11, 24(3), 51-3, 52, 53(1), 55, 56, 57 and 107 — original (current text, in force 8 Oct 2026, Act No. 21533; checked 12 November 2026).
- Korea Law Information Center — Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act Arts. 6, 7 and 30, Annex 1 — original (current text, in force 23 Oct 2025, Presidential Decree No. 35436; Annex 1 as amended 29 June 2018; checked 12 November 2026).
- Korea Law Information Center — Regulations on Holidays of Government Offices Arts. 2 and 3 — original (current text, in force 11 May 2026, Presidential Decree No. 36290; checked 12 November 2026). The twelve kinds of public holiday (Labour Day as item 6 — 30 April 2026 amendment) and substitute holidays.
- What we did not read. Ministry interpretations and case law on the conversion ratio, deadlines for use and payment for unused compensatory leave; whether an individual agreement is valid; the special cases in Art. 53; the text of the 2026 minimum wage notice; the full wording of the 7 April 2026 amendment to Art. 107.
- What we added. Dividing the wages replaced by the hourly ordinary wage to get leave hours, adding 0.5 for overlapping night hours, the rounding of hours and won, the “pay for the hours without premium” for 4 or fewer workers, the six examples and the “points to note” column.
Where to check further
- Your HR or payroll team — the written agreement on compensatory leave, the conversion used and the deadline for use.
- Regional employment and labor office — a petition over unpaid premiums.
Written on 12 November 2026. The provisions are quoted from the original; the readings and arithmetic are ours.
