If a relative needs care, ask your Korean employer specifically about 가족돌봄휴가, family care leave. It can provide day-by-day time away for qualifying family needs. It is generally unpaid under the statutory arrangement, so confirm any company pay policy before treating it as paid sick leave.
Checked October 25, 2026. This guide covers a family-care absence, rather than your own illness, childbirth recovery, or planned parental leave.
Identify the relationship and care need
MOEL's family care leave guidance lists grandparents, parents, a spouse, a spouse's parents, children, and grandchildren. Covered reasons include illness, accident, old age, and childcare. There are additional conditions for care of grandparents or grandchildren where other direct relatives exist, so describe the family arrangement accurately when asking HR.
Write a short explanation of the care you need to provide and the requested dates. For example, distinguish accompanying a parent to treatment from needing an extended period as the primary carer. You do not need to circulate an entire medical history to explain the initial request.
Request the days in writing
The official guide describes up to ten days annually, used in day units. The family-care days count within the longer family-care leave-of-absence allowance; do not assume the two allowances simply add together.
Submit the date or dates, your name and application date, and the cared-for relative's name and birth date, as described in MOEL's request guidance. Ask which evidence is necessary and how to send it privately. Keep a dated copy and ask for acknowledgment.
I need to request 가족돌봄휴가 on [date/dates] to care for my [relationship] because of [brief care reason]. Please confirm the required documents, remaining allowance, and whether any company policy provides pay during these days.
If the situation develops unexpectedly, contact the designated manager or HR channel promptly and follow up with the written request. State what is known and when you expect to update the dates. Keep work handover details separate from private medical information.
Clarify pay and any proposed date change
MOEL says the employer has no general statutory obligation to pay for these days, although an employment rule or collective agreement can provide pay. The guidance also describes consultation over timing where the requested dates would seriously disrupt normal business operations. Ask for the specific explanation and a workable discussion if dates are challenged.
Ask payroll how the absence will appear on the statement and whether any allowance is affected. Do not assume HR's approval of the absence answers the pay question. Save the reply with the leave confirmation so the first affected payslip can be checked against it.
If care will take longer
Ask about 가족돌봄휴직, the longer family-care leave of absence. MOEL describes a separate arrangement of up to 90 days annually, with at least 30 days in each divided period, and specified refusal grounds. For a continuing need while still working, review the separate family-care working-hours reduction route.
Have HR identify which arrangement is being recorded and how much allowance remains. If the request, relationship, overseas documents, or employer response is disputed, take the facts to MOEL for individual guidance. Ask what proof is acceptable instead of assuming a foreign-language document will be accepted or rejected.
Official MOEL pages checked October 25, 2026; no publication dates are displayed on these guidance pages. Special emergency extensions are not assumed in the ordinary ten-day description.
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