The parental-leave article covered the benefit after a child is born. One thing comes before it: 90 days of maternity leave spanning the birth, and the pay for those days. Read the statute and the first thing that splits is not the amount but who pays it. At a priority-support firm the state pays the whole leave; elsewhere the employer pays 60 days and the state the rest. Yet what lands in the worker's hands is - once above the floor - the same either way. Today's calculator shows the three-way split.
1. On a 3m won monthly wage, 90 days total 8.2m won. Priority-support firm: state 6.6m + employer 1.6m; large firm: state 2.2m + employer 6m.
2. The state benefit is capped at 6,600,000 won for 90 days (73,333 a day), 7,333,330 won for a 100-day premature-birth leave, 8,800,000 won for 120 days with multiples - the 2026 notice.
3. Floor to cap is 1,437 won a day. At 40 hours a week the floor is 71,896 a day and the cap 73,333 - below it you are lifted, above it 30 days are cut.
It reads art. 74 of Korea's Labor Standards Act, arts. 75-76 of the Employment Insurance Act, art. 101 of its Enforcement Decree and the Ministry of Employment and Labor notice on the benefit cap (No. 2025-124, in force 1 Jan 2026) as written. The leave is 90 days (100 for a premature birth, 120 for twins or more), with at least 45 (60) days after the birth (art. 74(1)). The first 60 days (75 for multiples) are paid by the employer, who is released to the extent the state benefit covers them (art. 74(4)). The benefit is the ordinary wage as of the leave start, paid for the whole leave at a priority-support firm and for the days beyond 60 (75) - at most 30, 40 or 45 - elsewhere (EIA art. 76(1)(i)). The cap is 6,600,000 won for 90 days, 7,333,330 for 100 and 8,800,000 for 120, pro-rated by days for shorter periods. The floor is the ordinary wage recomputed at the hourly minimum wage on the start date (10,320 won in 2026) (Decree art. 101(ii)) - this calculator builds monthly hours from weekly contract hours plus the paid weekly rest day (40 → 209). You need 180 insured days before the leave ends and must claim from one month after the start to 12 months after the end, the start being deemed 60 days later at a large firm (art. 75). The daily wage is taken as monthly ÷ 30 - our simplification. Spousal leave (20 days, cap 1,684,210 won) and infertility-treatment leave (2 days, 168,420 won) are not covered. An estimate - confirm on Work24 or with the call centre (1350).
Sixty of the 90 days are paid by the employer
Art. 74(1) of the Labor Standards Act grants a pregnant worker "90 days of maternity leave spanning the period before and after the birth (100 days for a premature birth, 120 days where two or more children are carried at once)", and requires that "at least 45 days (60 for multiples) fall after the birth". The split is free; the back half is fixed.
Art. 74(4) is where the money starts. "The first 60 days (75 for multiples) of the leave under paragraph 1 shall be paid" - with a proviso: "where maternity-leave benefit has been paid under art. 18 of the Employment Insurance Act, the employer is released to the extent of that amount." So the employer owes the ordinary wage for 60 days as a rule, and where the state benefit lands on those days the employer pays that much less. For those 60 days the worker receives the ordinary wage whoever pays it.
For the remaining 30 days (40 premature, 45 multiples) art. 74 says nothing about pay. That money comes from the Employment Insurance Act.
The state pays up to 6,600,000 won; above that, the employer for 60 days
Art. 76(1)(i) of the Employment Insurance Act sets the benefit at "the amount equal to the ordinary wage under the Labor Standards Act (computed as of the day the leave began) for the leave period". Art. 76(2) lets a cap and floor be set by decree, and Decree art. 101(i) hands the cap to a Ministry of Employment and Labor notice. The 2026 notice (No. 2025-124) gives 6,600,000 won for 90 days, 7,333,330 won for 100 and 8,800,000 won for 120, "pro-rated by days where the period is shorter". Divided by 90 that is 73,333 won a day, or 2.2m won a month.
At a priority-support firm it works out like this. On a 3m won monthly wage the daily wage is 100,000 (monthly ÷ 30 - our simplification, repeated below). The state pays at most 90 × 73,333 = 6.6m. Under art. 74(4) the employer makes up the shortfall for the first 60 days: 60 × (100,000 − 73,333) = 1.6m. The last 30 days bring only the state's 73,333 a day. Total 8.2m won.
If the daily wage does not exceed 73,333 the employer's share is zero - the benefit already covers the wage, so there is no shortfall. At 2.5m won the daily wage is 83,333, so the employer adds 60 × (83,333 − 73,333) = 599,980 won, for 7,199,980 in total.
Firm size changes who pays, not what you get
Art. 76(1)(i) carries a proviso: "where the employer is not a priority-support firm under art. 12 of the Enforcement Decree, the benefit is limited to the days beyond 60 (75 for multiples) (at most 30 days, 40 for a premature birth, 45 for multiples)." At a large firm the state pays only the last 30 days - capped at 2,200,000 (40 days 2,933,332, 45 days 3,300,000). The first 60 days are the employer's at the full ordinary wage, per the main text of art. 74(4).
Put the same 3m won through a large firm: employer 60 × 100,000 = 6m, state 30 × 73,333 = 2.2m. Total 8.2m won - the same as at the priority-support firm. Not a coincidence: either way you get 60 days at your wage and 30 days at the lower of your wage and the cap. What size changes is the split between state and employer and when you claim (below). Switch the firm size in the calculator and the total line stays put while the two lines above it move.
Whether a firm is priority-support is set by Decree art. 12 and its Table 1 by headcount: manufacturing 500 or fewer; mining, construction, transport and storage, information and communications, facility management, professional and scientific services, and health and social work 300 or fewer; wholesale and retail, accommodation and food, finance and insurance, and arts, sports and leisure 200 or fewer; everything else 100 or fewer. Art. 12(2) adds that an SME under the Framework Act on SMEs counts as priority-support regardless of size, (3) keeps the status for five years after the threshold is crossed, and (4) excludes members of a cross-shareholding-restricted business group. Work24 shows which side your workplace falls on.
Floor to cap is 1,437 won a day
Decree art. 101(ii) is the floor: "where the ordinary wage for the leave period, computed as an hourly rate, is lower than the hourly minimum wage on the leave start date, the benefit is computed with the minimum wage as the hourly ordinary wage." The 2026 hourly minimum of 10,320 won times 40 hours a week (209 hours a month including the paid rest day) gives 2,156,880 won a month, 71,896 a day.
The cap is 73,333 a day. Between the two lie 1,437 won, 43,110 a month. Only inside that band do you get "your ordinary wage"; to the left you are lifted to the floor (a 2m won wage is 66,666 a day, which becomes 71,896 - 6,470,640 won for 90 days), to the right the last 30 days are cut to the cap. A 2.17m won wage (72,333 a day) is the in-band example - 6,509,970 won for 90 days, employer share zero.
"Monthly ÷ 30" is our simplification. The statute measures the ordinary wage hourly and compares it with the floor. We used the same frame as the notice, which sets the 90-day cap at 2.2m won × 3, but the real floor depends on each worker's contract hours - hence the weekly-hours field in the calculator. If you are not on 40 hours, enter yours.
Claim from a month after the start until 12 months after the end
Art. 75 of the Employment Insurance Act sets two conditions. Item (i): "180 or more insured days in total before the day the leave ends"; item (ii): "a claim filed from one month after the day the leave began until 12 months after the day it ended". The 180 days are the same insured-days concept as in unemployment benefit - not days on the payroll but days for which pay was due.
Item (ii) has a parenthesis: "where the employer is not a priority-support firm, the day 60 days (75 for multiples) after the leave began is deemed the day it began." A large-firm worker's state-paid stretch starts 60 days in, so the claim window opens a month after that. The closing end is the same - 12 months after the leave ends. "One month" and "12 months" are calendar terms, so the exact dates vary case by case; this calculator does not count them.
Questions that remain
What is the ordinary wage - base pay?
Art. 76 says only "the ordinary wage under the Labor Standards Act". Art. 6(1) of that Act's Enforcement Decree defines it as the amount "agreed to be paid regularly and uniformly for contract or total work", and what goes in varies by workplace. It may differ from the "monthly pay" the salary calculator works with - enter the ordinary-wage figure on your pay slip.
I am on a fixed-term contract that ends during the leave.
Art. 76(1)(i) pays for the leave period, and the leave ends with the contract. The statute says nothing about the remaining days - this calculator assumes all 90 are taken. Check with your employment centre.
My employer is not paying the 60 days.
The main text of art. 74(4) says "shall be paid"; the proviso releases the employer only "to the extent of the amount" of benefit paid. If your wage exceeds the cap and the employer withholds the difference, that difference is a Labor Standards Act matter - the regional labour office.
What about spousal leave and infertility-treatment leave?
Art. 76(1)(ii) and (iii), same notice - spousal leave 20 days capped at 1,684,210 won (priority-support firms only), infertility-treatment leave first 2 days capped at 168,420. Not covered by this calculator.
Sources
Korean Law Information Center, Labor Standards Act - statute text - art. 74(1) (90, 100, 120 days; 45 or 60 after the birth) and (4) (first 60 or 75 days paid; release to the extent of the benefit).
Korean Law Information Center, Employment Insurance Act - statute text - art. 75 (180 insured days; claim window; deemed start at a large firm) and art. 76(1)(i) (ordinary wage; whole leave at a priority-support firm; the 30, 40 or 45 days beyond 60 or 75 elsewhere) and (2) (cap and floor delegated).
Enforcement Decree of the Employment Insurance Act - decree text - art. 101 (cap by notice; floor at the hourly minimum wage) and art. 12 with Table 1 (priority-support firms - 500, 300, 200 or 100 employees by industry; SMEs deemed included; five-year grace; cross-shareholding groups excluded).
Ministry of Employment and Labor notice on the maternity-leave benefit cap (No. 2025-124) - 1 January to 31 December 2026 - 6,600,000 won for 90 days, 7,333,330 won for 100, 8,800,000 won for 120, "pro-rated by days for a shorter period", spousal leave 20 days 1,684,210 won, infertility-treatment leave 2 days 168,420 won. The 2026 hourly minimum wage of 10,320 won is from the minimum-wage notice.
Calculator verification. 288 combinations (twelve monthly wages including zero and the floor and cap boundaries × four weekly-hours settings × three birth types × two firm sizes) were checked against the statutory arithmetic in both languages - state benefit, employer share, total, floor and cap, days paid by the state, and the presence of the three notes - and in all 123 priority-support cases at or above the floor the total matched the large-firm total.
Left for another day
What counts as ordinary wage. Outside this article.
The daily wage. The statute measures hourly; this calculator uses monthly ÷ 30 - different contract hours move the floor.
Contracts ending mid-leave, early return. The remaining days are not addressed in the text.
Based on the 2026 provisions and notice. Days, caps and the minimum wage are the statute's; the daily wage (monthly ÷ 30), the employer's shortfall, the floor-to-cap band and the example amounts are our arithmetic. The calculator is an estimate and counts neither insured days nor claim dates - confirm on Work24 or with the Ministry of Employment and Labor call centre (1350).
