A program allowing “family-care” leave takes effect as of Aug. 2, allowing workers to take up to 90 unpaid days off to care for ill or elderly family members, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Tuesday.
A parent with a preschool child in need of his or her attention will also be able to choose to reduce their working hours instead of taking parental leave, the ministry said.
The Cabinet endorsed a set of executive orders to implement new measures to help employees balance work and family and minimize damage to business operations.
The related law revision was approved by the National Assembly in February.
The family-care leave program will be applied to firms whose number of employees is 300 or more in August. From February next year, it will also be applied to companies with less than 300 workers.
However, employers can reject requests for family-care leave in several cases, including when an employee has worked at a firm for less than one year; when he or she has others to care for their ill family member; and when their leave could seriously hamper work operations.
By Song Sang-ho (
sshluck@heraldcorp.com)
