To arrange maternity leave in Korea, notify HR, submit the company's leave request and medical evidence, and confirm the planned dates and pay process. Then check whether a separate employment-insurance benefit application is needed. Do not combine maternity leave and parental leave into one undocumented request.
Checked October 18, 2026. Maternity leave is called 출산전후휴가. This guide concerns an employee's leave around childbirth; adoption, parental childcare leave, and a spouse's childbirth leave involve different arrangements.
Plan the dates around the post-birth requirement
Labor Standards Act Article 74, in the version effective October 8, 2026, provides 90 days of maternity leave, 100 days for a qualifying premature birth, or 120 days for multiple births. At least 45 days must follow childbirth, or 60 days for multiple births. The premature-birth category has its own definition and procedure.
Prepare a provisional schedule using the expected delivery date, then ask how HR will adjust it if the birth happens earlier or later. Keep maternity leave, any annual leave you separately request, and any later parental leave clearly identified on the calendar.
Notify HR and agree on a document checklist
Work24's maternity-leave guidance describes submitting the internal application and a medical institution's pregnancy confirmation. It says employee leave entitlement does not depend on permanent status, length of service, or type of work. Government benefit eligibility is a separate matter.
I would like to arrange 출산전후휴가. My expected delivery date is [date], and my proposed leave starts on [date]. Please confirm the documents, provisional end date, process for updating the actual birth date, and payroll and benefit contacts.
Ask which documents can be submitted electronically and who actually needs the medical information. Send them through the designated HR route. Keep copies privately, with the submission date, instead of distributing pregnancy records in a general team chat.
Clarify who pays and who files
The law makes the first 60 days paid, or 75 days for multiple births, with coordination where statutory benefits are paid. Work24 explains different employer and government payment arrangements according to the employer's category. Ask payroll for your specific arrangement rather than assuming one payer covers the entire absence.
For employment-insurance maternity benefits, Work24 lists at least 180 insured qualifying days by the end of leave and an application window from one month after leave begins until 12 months after it ends. Ask the employment center to verify your own insured record; calendar months and qualifying days are different.
Confirm whether the employer has submitted the leave confirmation or will apply on your behalf after paying you. Prepare the requested wage records and evidence of employer payments. The payslip guide can help you identify the earnings and deductions you need to ask payroll about.
Record the return arrangements
Before leave starts, identify the HR contact for document updates and agree how essential administrative messages will reach you. Keep ordinary work handover separate from that contact arrangement. Ask when benefits applications and wage records will be ready.
Article 74 requires return to the same work or a position paying an equivalent level of wages after maternity leave. If the employer disputes the dates, leave, or return arrangements, take the written explanation and relevant records to MOEL. For medical decisions about pregnancy and recovery, follow your clinician's advice.
Official law and Work24 guidance checked October 18, 2026. The cited statute version took effect October 8, 2026; benefit amounts are intentionally not estimated here.
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