Korea Weekly Holiday Pay Calculator
Weekly holiday pay — juhyu sudang (주휴수당) — is a feature of Korean employment law with no close equivalent in most countries, and it regularly catches out both foreign workers and foreign-owned businesses in Korea. Under Article 55 of the Labor Standards Act, an employee whose contracted hours are 15 or more per week and who completes every scheduled workday in that week is entitled to one paid day off. In practice this means you are paid for a day you did not work, and the whole calculation comes down to deciding how large that unworked day is. This calculator takes just two inputs — your hourly wage and your weekly contracted hours — and returns the weekly holiday pay, its monthly equivalent, and your effective hourly rate once holiday pay is folded in. All examples and the reference table below use the 2026 minimum wage of ₩10,320 per hour.
Key points
- Two conditions must both hold in the same week: contracted hours of 15 or more, and perfect attendance on every scheduled workday. Miss either one and no holiday pay accrues for that week.
- The formula is (weekly contracted hours ÷ 40) × 8 × hourly wage. Hours above 40 do not increase it — contracted hours are capped at 40, so holiday pay tops out at 8 hours of wages.
- It applies to workplaces with fewer than 5 employees. Overtime, night, and holiday premiums drop away below that headcount, but the weekly paid holiday obligation does not depend on company size.
Examples
40 hours per week, full time (₩10,320/hour)
Five days of eight hours each. (40 ÷ 40) × 8 = 8 hours of holiday pay, so 10,320 × 8 = ₩82,560 per week, or roughly ₩358,723 per month (× 4.345). Weekly gross becomes ₩412,800 of worked time plus ₩82,560 of holiday pay = ₩495,360, which divided by 40 hours gives an effective rate of ₩12,384 — exactly 1.2 times the headline minimum wage.
20-hour part-time schedule (₩10,320/hour)
A common arbeit pattern: two ten-hour weekend shifts, or four five-hour weekday shifts. (20 ÷ 40) × 8 = 4 hours, so holiday pay is 10,320 × 4 = ₩41,280 per week, about ₩179,362 per month. Half the hours means exactly half the holiday pay, yet the effective hourly rate is still ₩12,384 — the entitlement scales in strict proportion to contracted hours.
15 hours per week — the eligibility threshold (₩10,320/hour)
The lowest schedule that still qualifies. (15 ÷ 40) × 8 = 3 hours, so ₩30,960 per week, about ₩134,521 per month. What matters here is that the 15-hour test looks at contracted hours written into the employment contract, not hours that happened to be worked. If a contract says 14 hours but the employee has reliably worked 16 every week, the position is arguable — the safest course is to update the contract to match the real pattern.
12 hours per week — not eligible (₩10,320/hour)
Workers below 15 contracted hours per week are classed as very-short-time workers and fall outside the weekly paid holiday rule, so no amount of perfect attendance generates holiday pay. The same threshold also excludes them from statutory annual leave and, as a rule, severance pay. It does not, however, strip away everything: minimum wage, the obligation to pay wages on time, and industrial accident insurance all apply regardless of hours.
25 hours per week but one absence (₩10,320/hour)
This schedule would earn (25 ÷ 40) × 8 = 5 hours, i.e. 10,320 × 5 = ₩51,600. If the employee misses one scheduled workday without approved leave, the attendance condition fails and that week's ₩51,600 does not accrue. The key point is that the loss is confined to that single week. Miss one week out of four and the other three weeks — ₩154,800 — remain payable; withholding a whole month of holiday pay over one absence has no basis.
Weekly holiday pay by contracted hours (at the ₩10,320 minimum wage)
| Weekly contracted hours | Holiday pay (week) | Monthly (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| 15 hours | ₩30,960 | ₩134,521 |
| 20 hours | ₩41,280 | ₩179,362 |
| 25 hours | ₩51,600 | ₩224,202 |
| 30 hours | ₩61,920 | ₩269,042 |
| 35 hours | ₩72,240 | ₩313,883 |
| 40 hours | ₩82,560 | ₩358,723 |
| 45 hours | ₩82,560 | ₩358,723 |
Monthly figures use 4.345 weeks per month · hours beyond 40 do not increase weekly holiday pay
FAQ
Is it really impossible to get holiday pay under 15 hours a week?
Correct — workers with fewer than 15 contracted hours per week are excluded from the weekly paid holiday provision, so no entitlement arises. But the test is not applied to a single week in isolation: the standard approach averages contracted hours over four weeks. If some weeks are 13 hours and others 17, what matters is whether the four-week average reaches 15. Similarly, a contract stating 14 hours while the employee consistently works 16 or 17 may be assessed on the substance of the arrangement rather than the paperwork. Splitting one job into two sub-15-hour contracts at the same workplace to avoid the threshold is also likely to be treated as a single employment relationship with the hours combined. If you are near the line, keep your employment contract, schedules, attendance records, and payslips, and get individual advice from a labor office or a certified labor attorney (공인노무사).
What exactly counts as perfect attendance? Do lateness and early departure break it?
Attendance is judged by whether you showed up on each day you were scheduled to work. Arriving late or leaving early therefore does not normally break it — you did attend. Cancelling an entire week's holiday pay over a 30-minute delay is out of step with the usual administrative interpretation; the employer's remedy is to deduct pay for the time not worked. Missing a full scheduled day, by contrast, is an absence and that week's holiday pay does not accrue. Days taken as employer-approved annual leave count as attendance, and days that were never scheduled workdays in the first place — company shutdown days, public holidays — are not counted as absences either. Family-event leave and sick leave depend on what the employment rules or contract actually say, so check your workplace's rules before assuming either way.
Does Korea's minimum wage already include weekly holiday pay?
No. The ₩10,320 minimum hourly wage (2026) is the floor for hours actually worked; holiday pay sits on top of it. That is why anyone working 15+ hours a week has an effective rate of ₩12,384 rather than ₩10,320 — 1.2 times the headline figure. The complication is job postings advertising something like '₩10,320/hour, holiday pay included'. Work backwards and the base rate becomes 10,320 ÷ 1.2 = ₩8,600, which falls below the legal minimum. Rolling holiday pay into the hourly rate is not automatically unlawful in every case, but the base component must still clear the minimum wage on its own. Whenever you see 'holiday pay included', divide the quoted rate by 1.2 and check the result against the minimum wage before accepting the job.
Does it apply at workplaces with fewer than 5 employees?
Yes. Several parts of the Labor Standards Act switch off below five regular employees — the 1.5× premiums for overtime, night, and holiday work, statutory annual leave, and remedies for unfair dismissal are the well-known ones. Article 55(1), which creates the weekly paid holiday, is not among them. Whether you work at a neighbourhood cafe, a convenience store, a small restaurant, or a hair salon, 15+ hours a week plus full attendance means holiday pay is due. 'We only have three staff, so there is no holiday pay' is simply wrong. What is true is that at a sub-5 workplace, hours beyond 40 attract no 1.5× premium — a separate issue that is often confused with this one.
What should I do if my employer refuses to pay it?
Unpaid weekly holiday pay is wage theft, and the process for pursuing it is fairly well established. First, gather evidence: the employment contract, payslips, bank deposit records, shift schedules, attendance logs, and work-related messenger conversations all help. If there is no written contract, KakaoTalk threads agreeing shifts can still evidence your contracted hours. Second, ask the employer for payment and show your working — the calculator output and formula are usually enough to make the number concrete. Third, if payment still does not come, file a wage complaint online through the Ministry of Employment and Labor portal (labor.moel.go.kr) or in person at your regional labor office. A labor inspector will interview both sides and issue a corrective order if the underpayment is confirmed. Wage claims carry a three-year limitation period, so up to three years of back pay can be claimed, and you can file after leaving the job. Outcomes turn on the specific facts, so for larger amounts or contested cases consider a certified labor attorney or the free labor counselling line (1350 within Korea).
Is weekly holiday pay subject to taxes and the four social insurances?
Yes. Holiday pay is wages paid for work, so it is treated like any other pay: income tax and local income tax are withheld on it, and it counts toward the remuneration base for national pension, health insurance, and employment insurance. Whether your payslip lists it as a separate line or rolls it into base pay, the deductions come out the same. Enrolment in the insurances themselves is judged on different criteria, though — national pension and health insurance generally apply from about 60 hours a month (15 hours a week), employment insurance covers even very-short-time workers once employment continues beyond three months, and industrial accident insurance applies to every employee regardless of hours. Holiday pay also feeds into average wage and ordinary wage calculations, so leaving it out shrinks severance pay and other allowances derived from those figures. It is worth checking each month that holiday pay appears on your payslip.
Why juhyu sudang exists — origins and legal basis
The legal root is Article 55(1) of the Labor Standards Act: 'An employer shall guarantee workers an average of at least one paid holiday per week.' That single sentence is the whole rule, with Enforcement Decree Article 30 adding the condition that it goes to workers who complete all scheduled workdays in the week. The statute never actually uses the word juhyu sudang — that is the practitioner's name for the wage that corresponds to the day the law requires to be paid.
The purpose traces back to working conditions when the Act was written in 1953. Six-day weeks and ten-hour days were normal, and taking a day off meant losing that day's wages outright, so people worked through illness. Making the rest day paid was how the legislature tried to make rest actually possible. With the five-day week now standard, some argue the rationale has weakened, but for hourly-paid short-time workers it still moves real money: roughly ₩180,000 a month for a 20-hour-a-week job is not a rounding error.
Coverage is broad. Employment type makes no difference — permanent, fixed-term, and part-time (arbeit) workers are all included — company size makes no difference, and foreign workers are covered on the same terms as Korean nationals. What falls outside is work that is not employment under the Act at all: genuinely independent freelancers, or people engaged on a 3.3% business-income withholding basis. Even then the label on the contract is not decisive. Someone engaged under a 'service agreement' who works fixed hours under the client's direction may still be recognised as an employee in substance. That assessment is fact-specific, so anyone in an ambiguous position should seek advice rather than assume.
Monthly-salaried employees usually already have holiday pay embedded in their salary. Ordinary wage calculations conventionally use 209 hours a month, and that figure is exactly 174 worked hours (40 × 4.345) plus 35 holiday hours (8 × 4.345). So the absence of a separate 'holiday pay' line on a monthly payslip does not mean it is missing — if the salary was set against 209 hours, it is already in there. Disputes overwhelmingly involve hourly and daily paid workers instead.
Unpacking the formula: why divide by 40 and multiply by 8
Most people memorise '(weekly contracted hours ÷ 40) × 8 × hourly wage' without ever learning why 40 and 8 appear. The expression is really three questions answered in sequence.
Question one: what fraction of a full-time schedule is this person working? The statutory standard workweek is 40 hours, so a 20-hour worker is at 20 ÷ 40 = 0.5, half of full time. That ratio is the first part of the formula. Question two: for a full-time worker, how long is the paid day off? Forty hours across five days makes an eight-hour day, so the guaranteed paid day is worth eight hours of wages — that is the 8. Question three combines them: giving a half-time worker the same eight hours as a full-timer would be out of proportion, so 0.5 × 8 = 4 hours becomes their holiday hours, and multiplying by the hourly wage produces the amount. In effect the formula applies Article 18's principle of pro-rata protection — that a short-time worker's conditions are set in proportion to those of a comparable full-time worker — to the weekly paid holiday.
The 40-hour cap follows from the same logic. What is guaranteed is one holiday, and that day is no longer than the statutory eight hours. So working 45 or 50 hours a week still produces 8 hours of holiday pay — ₩82,560 at a ₩10,320 rate — and no more. The extra 5 or 10 hours belong to overtime pay, not holiday pay, and at a workplace with five or more employees they carry a 1.5× premium. The two are separate entitlements, so receiving one does not settle the other; it is worth checking that both have been paid.
The 4.345 factor in the monthly figure deserves a note too. Treating a month as four weeks implies a 48-week year, which is well short of the real 52.14. The precise average is 365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12 = 4.345 weeks per month. A 40-hour worker's monthly holiday pay is therefore 82,560 × 4.345 ≈ ₩358,723, not 82,560 × 4 = ₩330,240. Using four weeks understates the amount by nearly ₩30,000 every month, so 4.345 is the right multiplier for monthly settlement.
Finally, the effective-rate idea is useful when comparing offers. For any schedule at or below 40 hours, as long as you clear the 15-hour threshold, the effective hourly rate is always 1.2 times the base rate, because holiday pay scales exactly with hours. At the 2026 minimum of ₩10,320 that is ₩12,384. When weighing up two job postings, compare effective rates rather than advertised rates to see what you will actually take home. Note that everything here describes the general framework; the specific terms of a contract or the circumstances of a workplace can change the answer, and anyone facing a live dispute should get individual advice from the labor counselling centre (1350) or a certified labor attorney.
Sources
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