When the company tells you not to come in because of its own circumstances, what you are owed is the shutdown allowance. Art. 46 of the Labor Standards Act puts it in one line: "at least 70% of the average wage". But the average wage, as the severance article showed, divides by calendar days, so for a monthly-paid worker without bonuses it is lower than the ordinary wage. Then art. 2(2) steps in and counts the ordinary wage as the average. The result: 70% of the ordinary wage. And where bonuses push the 70% above the ordinary wage, the proviso makes the ordinary wage the ceiling. A floor at 70% of the ordinary wage, a ceiling at 100% - today's calculator tells you where between them you sit.
1. On a 3m won monthly ordinary wage and 9m won over three months, ten shutdown days come to 803,820 won. The average of 97,826 a day is below the ordinary 114,832, so the ordinary wage counts, and 70% of it is 80,382 a day.
2. Anything paid during the shutdown comes off before the 70% (Decree art. 26). 300,000 won received over ten days gives 593,820, not 503,820 - a 90,000-won gap.
3. Five workers up; an exception with Labor Relations Commission approval; heavier penalties from 8 October 2026. Workplaces with four or fewer are outside art. 46 under Decree Table 1.
It reads art. 46 and art. 2(1)(vi) and (2) of Korea's Labor Standards Act, and arts. 2, 6 and 26 of its Enforcement Decree, as written. Where the employer shuts down for a cause attributable to it, the worker must be paid at least 70% of the average wage for the period; where that 70% exceeds the ordinary wage, the employer may pay the ordinary wage instead (art. 46(1)). The average wage is total pay in the 3 months before the shutdown began divided by the calendar days in that window (art. 2(1)(vi)), and the ordinary wage counts instead where the average is lower (art. 2(2)). The ordinary daily wage is the monthly figure divided by the monthly base hours (daily contract hours × 6 × 365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12 - 209 for 8 hours) and multiplied by daily contract hours (Decree art. 6(2)(iv),(3)). Where part of the wage was paid during the shutdown, the minimum is 70% of the average wage less what was received (or the ordinary wage less it, under the proviso) (Decree art. 26) - this calculator spreads what was received evenly over the shutdown days (our simplification). Leave out the periods and one-off payments excluded by Decree art. 2 when entering the 3-month total. Art. 46 does not apply to workplaces with 4 or fewer workers (Decree Table 1). An estimate - confirm with your regional labour office or the call centre (1350).
The floor is 70% of the ordinary wage; the ceiling is 100%
The main text of art. 46(1): "where the employer shuts down for a cause attributable to it, the employer shall pay the worker an allowance of at least 70% of the average wage for the shutdown period." The proviso: "where the amount equal to 70% of the average wage exceeds the ordinary wage, the employer may pay the ordinary wage as the allowance." On top of that sits art. 2(2): "where the amount so computed is less than the worker's ordinary wage, the ordinary wage is the average wage."
Lay the three sentences over daily figures and you get a staircase. Where the average daily wage is below the ordinary 114,832, the ordinary wage becomes the average and the allowance is fixed at 80,382; between, 70% of the average applies as is; once the average passes 164,047 (ordinary ÷ 0.7) the 70% exceeds the ordinary wage and the employer may cap the allowance at 114,832. The proviso says "may" - paying the full 70% of the average is also within the text, and the ceiling caps the minimum.
"The three months before" run on the calendar
Art. 2(1)(vi): "the average wage is the total wages paid to the worker in the three months before the day on which the cause for computing it arose, divided by the total number of days in that period." For the shutdown allowance that day is the first day of the shutdown, and the three months are counted back on the calendar from the day before. A shutdown from 14 September gives 14 June to 13 September, 92 days; one from 31 March gives 31 December to 30 March, 90 days.
The same 9m won divided by 92 is 97,826; by 90 it is 100,000 - the start date moves the daily figure. Decree art. 2(1) removes both the days and the pay for probation, earlier employer-caused shutdowns, maternity leave, work-injury leave, parental leave and strikes, and para. 2 takes one-off and in-kind payments out of the total. This calculator counts the days from the calendar and assumes the total you enter already has those exclusions made.
Without bonuses the average wage is below the ordinary wage
The ordinary wage is computed under Decree art. 6. For monthly pay, the hourly rate is "the amount divided by the monthly base hours for computing the ordinary wage" (para. 2(iv)), and the daily rate is "the hourly amount multiplied by the daily contract hours" (para. 3). Forty hours a week plus the eight-hour paid rest day, averaged over a year, is 209 hours a month - 3m won ÷ 209 = 14,354, × 8 hours = 114,832 won.
The average is 9m won ÷ 92 = 97,826. Dividing by calendar days rather than working days leaves it at about 85% of the ordinary daily wage, so art. 2(2) substitutes the ordinary wage and the allowance is 114,832 × 70% = 80,382, or 803,820 for ten days. With bonuses or overtime bringing the three months to 12m won, the average of 130,434 tops the ordinary wage and 70% of it, 91,303, applies as is - 913,030 for ten days. At 16m won the average is 173,913 and 70% of it, 121,739, exceeds the ordinary wage, so the proviso applies and the employer may pay 114,832 a day, 1,148,320 for ten days.
What you were paid comes off before the 70%
This is the case where you worked some days or the company paid something during the shutdown. Decree art. 26: "where the worker received part of the wage during the shutdown period, the employer shall compute the average wage less the wage received and pay an allowance of at least 70% of that amount; provided that, where the ordinary wage is paid as the allowance, the employer shall pay the ordinary wage less the wage received during the shutdown."
The order is money. 300,000 won over ten days is 30,000 a day, deducted first, then 70%: (114,832 − 30,000) × 70% = 59,382, 593,820 won for ten days. Take the 70% first and deduct after, and you get 80,382 × 10 − 300,000 = 503,820 - 90,000 won vanish, which is 30% of what was received. Under the proviso there is no 70%: the wage received comes straight off the ordinary wage. This calculator spreads what was received evenly over the shutdown days - the text speaks per period, and this is our simplification.
Five workers up, an exception with LRC approval, heavier penalties from 8 October
Art. 46(2): "where it is impossible to continue the business for an unavoidable reason and the employer has obtained approval from the Labor Relations Commission, an allowance below the standard in paragraph 1 may be paid." Only approval takes you below the floor. Coverage is art. 11 - five or more workers. Decree Table 1, which lists the provisions that apply to workplaces with four or fewer, gives in its chapter-3 row "arts. 43 to 45, arts. 47 to 49" - art. 46 is missing. Headcount is computed under Decree art. 7-2 as "the total number of workers used in the month before the day the cause arose, divided by the number of operating days".
The penalty today is art. 109(1) - a breach of art. 46 carries up to three years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 30 million won. The amendment of 7 April 2026 moves art. 46 into art. 107(1), so from 8 October 2026 it is up to five years or 50 million won. Both articles bar prosecution against the victim's express wishes, with an exception for employers on the published wage-arrears list.
Questions that remain
What is a "cause attributable to the employer"?
Art. 46 does not define it. Falling orders, missing materials, a power cut - how far the employer's side reaches is decided case by case by the labour office and the courts. This calculator counts only the amount once that is settled.
There is a paid weekly rest day inside the shutdown.
The text says only "for the shutdown period". Whether shutdown days are counted as working days, and how paid holidays are treated, is outside the text - this calculator multiplies the number you enter.
The company is asking me to agree to "unpaid leave".
Art. 46 governs a shutdown for a cause attributable to the employer. Whether a leave the worker agreed to falls under it is not answered by the text - ask the regional labour office before signing.
The company says it receives an employment-retention subsidy.
That is money going to the employer under the Employment Insurance Act, and it does not change the amount of the allowance owed to you. This article reads art. 46 of the Labor Standards Act only.
Sources
Korean Law Information Center, Labor Standards Act - statute text (in force 20 Aug 2026) - art. 46(1) main text and proviso and (2), art. 2(1)(vi) (average wage) and (2) (ordinary wage where lower), art. 11 (coverage), art. 109(1) (current penalty) and art. 107(1),(2) (amended 7 Apr 2026, in force 8 Oct 2026).
Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act - decree text (in force 23 Oct 2025) - art. 2 (periods and pay excluded from the average), art. 6(2)(iv),(3) (monthly pay to hourly and daily), art. 26 (computing the allowance), art. 7 and Table 1 (provisions applying to four or fewer workers - chapter 3 lists arts. 43-45 and 47-49), art. 7-2 (headcount).
Calculator verification. 1,008 combinations (four start dates including 92-day, 90-day and end-of-February windows × seven three-month totals including zero and both sides of the proviso boundary × two monthly wages × two daily-hours settings × three shutdown lengths × three amounts received) were checked against the statutory arithmetic in both languages - the window, average and ordinary daily wages, the 70%, the daily minimum, the post-deduction figure, the total and the presence of the three notes - and in every case the daily minimum was between 70% and 100% of the ordinary daily wage.
Left for another day
The scope of "cause attributable to the employer". Not defined in the text.
How shutdown days are counted. Working days or not, rest days in or out - outside the text.
Spreading the amount received. The text is per period; this calculator divides it per day.
Based on the 2026 provisions. The 70%, the three months and the 209-hour frame are the statute's; the example amounts, the proviso boundary (164,047) and the "70% floor, 100% ceiling" summary are our arithmetic. The calculator is an estimate and judges neither the cause nor the day count - confirm with your regional labour office or the Ministry of Employment and Labor call centre (1350).
