The last section of the voluntary-quit checker said this: "the loss code on the leaving confirmation - in practice the list is carried over into codes, but the codes themselves sit outside the statute." That sentence was wrong. The codes are not outside the statute. They are printed on the back of Form 75-4, the insured person's leaving confirmation, an annex to the Enforcement Rule of Korea's Employment Insurance Act - part of the Rule itself. Today we opened that form, copied the nine codes, and traced where each one lands in art. 58 of the Act.
1. There are nine codes. Own accord 11 and 12; the company's situation or the worker's fault 22, 23 and 26; retirement age or term ended 31 and 32; other 41 and 42.
2. Between 11 and 12 sits Table 2. Both are "own accord", but 11 goes to art. 58(2) while 12 points at the door marked "just cause set by Ministry Rule".
3. The deadline is 10 days, twice. 10 days from receiving your request; if nothing comes, file without it; then the employer gets another 10 days from the office's demand.
It reads the separation-reason code table on the back of Form 75-4 (the insured person's leaving confirmation, revised 1 July 2025) under the Enforcement Rule of Korea's Employment Insurance Act, together with art. 58 of the Act, as written. There are nine codes - own accord 11 and 12, the company's situation or the worker's fault 22, 23 and 26, retirement age or term ended 31 and 32, other 41 and 42. The form says to copy the code from Form 6 (the loss-of-insured-status report) and to describe the reason in at least 10 characters. Art. 58 deems a person ineligible where the employment security office recognises one of its grounds - paragraph 1 (dismissal for grave fault: a prison-grade sentence, Table 1-2, long unexcused absence) or paragraph 2 (own accord: to change jobs or start a business, an advised resignation with the same fault, or a reason not in Table 2). The deadline is Rule art. 82-2 - 10 days from receiving the request, and 10 days from receiving the office's demand. This checker excludes the first day and puts the last day at receipt + 10 days (Civil Act art. 157). Fines come from art. 118(1)(ii)-(iii) (up to 3,000,000 won) and Decree Table 3 - 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 won for not issuing or filing, 1,000,000, 2,000,000, 3,000,000 won for falsifying (first, second, third or later offence within a year), adjustable by half either way. The code is a box on a form; the finding is made by the employment security office - this is an estimate. Confirm with your employment centre (1350).
nine codes, on the back of the form
The instructions for box 1 read: "copy the loss-reason code entered on the worker's loss-of-insured-status report (Form 6), and describe the specific reason for leaving in at least 10 characters." So the code on the leaving confirmation is carried over from the loss report, and a reason of 10 characters or more goes underneath it.
| Group | Code | What the form says |
|---|---|---|
| Own accord | 11 | left of own accord for personal reasons |
| 12 | left of own accord over relocation of the workplace, changed working conditions, unpaid wages and the like | |
| Company's situation or worker's fault | 22 | closure, insolvency (including impending), works halted |
| 23 | headcount cut for business reasons or a downturn (including dismissal and advised resignation) | |
| 26 | disciplinary dismissal or advised resignation for the worker's own fault | |
| Retirement age or term ended | 31 | retirement age |
| 32 | contract ended, works completed | |
| Other | 41 | not covered by employment insurance |
| 42 | dual employment |
The numbers skip. There is no 13, no 21, no 24 or 25. The form carries nine and does not say why those nine. We have not filled the gaps in either.
Where art. 58 puts them - between 11 and 12
Art. 58 deems a person ineligible "where the head of the employment security office so recognises". It has two paragraphs: paragraph 1, dismissal for grave fault (a prison-grade sentence; grave disruption or financial loss to the business; long unexcused absence) and paragraph 2, leaving of one's own accord (to change jobs or start a business; an advised resignation with the same grave fault; any other reason that is not a just cause set by Ministry Rule).
Code 11 goes to paragraph 2. "Personal reasons" is the slot sub-item (c) describes: a reason that is not a just cause. Code 12 reads differently. "Relocation, changed conditions, unpaid wages and the like" are the very words Table 2 uses across its thirteen items of just cause. So two "own accord" codes, and 11 is the barring side while 12 points at the door.
If your form says 11 but your reason is in Table 2 - unpaid wages, an impossible commute, workplace harassment - the box should read 12. Art. 58 looks at the facts, not the form, but the code is where the office starts, so ask the employer to correct it before the decision is made.
Code 26 is not a bar by itself. Paragraph 1 lists three things only: (a) a prison-grade sentence, (b) one of Table 1-2's eight acts (embezzlement, leaking secrets, wrecking property and so on - copied out here), and (c) long unexcused absence without just cause. Fault outside those three is not on the list. But 2(b) stands next to it: a person with the same grave fault who leaves on the employer's advice rather than being dismissed gets the same result. That is where 26's "advised resignation" lands.
Codes 22, 23, 31 and 32 appear in neither paragraph. Leaving because the business closed, cut headcount, reached your retirement age or ended your contract passes art. 58 and goes straight to the eligibility test. Retirement age and contract end also sit in Table 2 as item 12, so either reading gives the same answer.
Codes 41 and 42 never reach art. 58. 41, "not covered", means this employment was never insured; 42, "dual employment", means another job continues. The benefit presupposes an insured person who is "unable to find work" (art. 40(1)(ii)), so under these two codes the premise is missing.
10 days, twice
Art. 42(3) says a person "may request the issue of the leaving confirmation ... and the employer so requested shall issue it", and Rule art. 82-2 sets the clock: within 10 days of receiving the request form (Form 75-3) (paragraph 2).
What if nothing arrives within 10 days? Our application-procedure article said the official guide stopped there. The Rule does not. Paragraph 3 says you "need not submit" the confirmation - you file without it; paragraph 4 lets the office demand it from the employer; paragraph 5 gives that employer another 10 days from receiving the demand. Art. 43(4) of the Act is the root.
Counting the days is a Civil Act matter, not an Employment Insurance one. "Within 10 days from the day of receipt" excludes the first day (Civil Act art. 157), so the last day is receipt + 10 days: hand it in on 7 September and it is due by 17 September. If the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday it moves to the next day (art. 161). The checker flags weekends but does not check public holidays.
Day labourers are treated differently: where the employer has filed the work-record report (Form 7), the confirmation counts as issued and filed (provisos to paragraphs 2 and 5).
If the employer fails - falsifying costs ten times more
Art. 118(1) sets a fine of up to 3,000,000 won; within it, item (ii) covers "a person who fails to issue the leaving confirmation or issues a falsified one" and item (iii) "a person who fails to submit it or submits a falsified one". The amounts are delegated by Decree art. 146 to Table 3.
| Offence | Not issued or filed | Falsified |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 100,000 won | 1,000,000 won |
| 2nd | 200,000 won | 2,000,000 won |
| 3rd or later | 300,000 won | 3,000,000 won |
The step rises only where "a fine has been imposed for the same breach within the last year" (Table 3, general rule (a)). The authority may cut the amount by up to half for minor negligence or corrective effort, or raise it by the same margin (rules (c) and (d)).
One more thing sits beside the fine. If a falsified confirmation leads to fraudulent benefit, the proviso to art. 62(2) allows an extra recovery of up to 5 times the benefit paid where the employer colluded, and art. 62(3) makes the employer jointly liable. The notes on the back of the form say both.
One form, four different periods
Follow the instructions on the back and each box looks back a different distance.
Box 2, insured units, runs month by month back from the leaving date, but only "until the total insured units (box 4) reach 180 days" - the form adds that seven or eight months is usually enough. 180 days is the claim condition itself (art. 40(1)(i)). Box 3, paid days, includes paid leave and paid holidays and excludes unpaid days off and unpaid absences.
Box 5, the average-wage period, is three months including the leaving day, and in box 7 bonuses and annual-leave pay go in as 3/12 of the total paid over 12 months. For someone who worked less than 12 months, the form says to multiply the bonus paid over the months worked by 3 and divide by the months worked - its example is "six months worked: 3/6".
Box 8, the daily ordinary wage, is "only where needed", but mandatory if the person worked less than three months. Box 11 is for those who, at leaving, worked under 15 hours a week and two days a week or fewer; for them the box 12 base-period extension stretches from 18 months to 24 months.
Questions that remain
What if the code is wrong?
The form ties box 1 to the loss report, so the first step is to ask the employer to correct it. But art. 58 turns on the facts "as the office recognises", so even an uncorrected form can be contested with your own evidence. The employment centre will say what to bring.
10 days have passed and nothing has come.
File for recognition without the confirmation (Rule art. 82-2(3)). The office will demand it from the employer, who then has 10 days - and failing that, the fine applies.
Artists and gig workers?
Art. 118(1)(ii)-(iii) expressly includes the cases borrowed by arts. 77-5(2) and 77-10(2), so the duty reaches them too. Their form and its codes were not opened today; the leaving-reason checker stops at Tables 2-2 and 2-3.
The self-employed?
There is no employer, so no leaving confirmation. Self-employed unemployment benefit reads closure reasons through a different route.
My code is 32 but the company offered a renewal and I declined.
How that case is read is not in the provisions or the form we opened. Practice may treat it in a particular way; ask the employment centre.
Sources
Korean Law Information Center, Enforcement Rule of the Employment Insurance Act, Form 75-4 - statute text, annexes - the insured person's leaving confirmation (revised 1 July 2025): the separation-reason code table of nine on the back, box 1 ("copy the loss report's code; at least 10 characters"), box 2 ("until 180 days"), boxes 5, 7, 8, 11 and 12, and the notes. The PDF viewer scatters the glyphs, so we rebuilt it line by line; the nine codes and the figures come from that.
Same Rule, art. 82-2 (issue of the leaving confirmation, inserted 28 Aug 2020) - (2) "within 10 days of receipt", (3) "need not submit", (4) the office's demand, (5) "within 10 days of the demand", and the day-labourer provisos. Table 1-2 (grave disruption or financial loss), eight acts, is in the same place.
Korean Law Information Center, Employment Insurance Act - statute text - art. 42(3) (request for issue, inserted 27 Aug 2019), art. 43(4) (demand for submission), art. 58 (two paragraphs, six sub-items), art. 62(2)-(3) (up to 5 times, joint liability), art. 118(1)(ii)-(iii) (up to 3,000,000 won).
Korean Law Information Center, Enforcement Decree - statute text - art. 146 and Table 3 (fine schedule, revised 27 June 2023): 100,000 won, 200,000 won, 300,000 won / 1,000,000 won, 2,000,000 won, 3,000,000 won and general rules (a), (c) and (d).
Checker verification. 1,728 combinations (nine codes × the three sub-items for 26 × eight request dates × two breach types × three steps) were checked against the statutory reading in both languages - the verdict and its provision, the deadline and fine in the table, and the weekend footnote.
Left for another day
The code table on Form 6, the loss report. The leaving confirmation says to copy that code; whether the two tables are identical was not compared today.
The artist and gig-worker forms. Arts. 77-5 and 77-10 borrow the duty, presumably onto forms of their own; not opened.
How to get a code corrected. The provisions do not say where or how; follow the employment centre (1350).
Based on the 2026 provisions and form. The codes, deadlines and amounts are the source's figures; the reading "11 bars, 12 points at the door" and the "receipt + 10 days" arithmetic are ours. The checker is an estimate; the finding is made by the employment security office - confirm with your employment centre or the Ministry of Employment and Labor call centre (1350).
