When Isolated Due to Infectious Disease, Academy Fees Refunded...First-Year Employees Must Use All Annual Leave Within One Year

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun speaking at the extraordinary Cabinet meeting held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the 18th. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporters Kwangho Lee, Bokyung Kim, Chaeseok Moon] From now on, students who are quarantined due to infectious diseases will be able to receive refunds for their academy fees. Also, the annual maximum of 11 days of annual leave accrued in the first year of employment must be used within one year of joining. If not used, it will naturally expire.

On the 24th, the government held a Cabinet meeting and deliberated and approved 64 draft laws, 51 presidential decrees, and 5 general agenda items, including these contents.

First, the amendment to the Academy Act clarified that if an academy founder or operator is infected or suspected of being infected with an infectious disease, or if learners who may be at risk of infection are quarantined from the academy, this constitutes grounds for refunding tuition fees. This supplements the previous lack of clear standards, which made it difficult to refund academy fees. The refund reference date is based on the day the quarantine measure or other refund reason occurs.

Additionally, the regulation was supplemented to allow study cafe users who voluntarily discontinue use to receive a refund excluding the one-day tuition fee from the start date to the day before discontinuation.

The government also deliberated and approved five laws under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, including the Labor Standards Act and the Industrial Safety and Health Act. The annual maximum of 11 days of annual leave accrued in the first year of employment must be used within one year from the date of joining, and if unused, it will naturally expire. In the second year, only up to 15 days of annual leave can be used. Previously, it was possible to combine the first-year annual leave with the second year’s to use up to 26 days at once.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Employment and Labor will increase parental leave benefits for single-parent workers to reduce the economic burden on single parents who bear both economic activity and childcare alone. For single-parent workers earning a monthly ordinary wage of 2 million KRW, the parental leave benefit, which was previously 13.5 million KRW for one year, will increase by 3 million KRW to 16.5 million KRW after the 31st. The post-payment system for parental leave benefits has been improved so that in cases of involuntary resignation due to business closure, bankruptcy, or wage arrears, post-payments can be received.

At the meeting, the government also approved the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Special Measures Act to Strengthen the Competitiveness of the Materials, Parts, and Equipment Industry and the Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on the Investigation of the Pohang Earthquake and Relief for Victims.

The Special Act on Materials, Parts, and Equipment, which was completely revised for the first time in 20 years following Japan’s export regulations, expanded the policy scope by adding equipment to the existing materials and parts. It also stipulated detailed procedures for establishing basic and implementation plans to strengthen competitiveness, selecting core strategic technologies, and procedures for selecting and managing specialized leading companies and strong small and medium enterprises. The Pohang Earthquake Special Act includes provisions to form the Pohang Earthquake Investigation Committee and the Pohang Earthquake Relief Deliberation Committee, and to implement support projects such as community recovery programs, the Pohang Trauma Center, and disaster prevention education projects.

In addition, the meeting reviewed the promulgation of the amendment to the Public Official Election Act, which lowers the deposit for proportional representation candidate registration in National Assembly elections from 15 million KRW to 5 million KRW, and the partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Prosecutors’ Office Act to strengthen supervision of senior prosecutors by reducing the number of prosecutors’ research officers at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office by two and reallocating them as the head of the Inspection Division 3 and the International Cooperation Officer, thereby reorganizing the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office organization.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.