Court: "Advanced Annual Leave Differs from Paid Leave... Working Hours Not Combined"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A court ruling has determined that annual leave taken in advance by an employee cannot be considered statutory paid leave and included in working hours.

On the 24th, according to the legal community, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 6 (Chief Judge Seongyong Lee) ruled against Mr. A, who operates a senior welfare center, in a lawsuit seeking to cancel the National Health Insurance Corporation's decision to recover long-term care benefit costs.

The court stated, "Even if the working period requirement is met after the annual leave is taken in advance, its nature does not change to paid leave under the Labor Standards Act."

It added, "If the advanced paid leave is included in the monthly working period and later the working requirements are not fulfilled, there is a concern that administrative resources will be wasted due to supervision and adjustment issues when retroactively applying the recovery of long-term care benefit costs."

In 2018, the Corporation imposed a recovery order on Mr. A's senior welfare center located in Gyeongbuk for long-term care benefit costs.

This was because Nurse Assistant B at the senior welfare center took paid leave in advance and used it early, failing to meet the monthly standard working hours of up to 8 hours per day, yet Mr. A claimed long-term care benefit costs without considering this, resulting in improper receipt.

Under the former Long-Term Care Insurance Act for the Elderly, if an employee does not meet the monthly standard working hours, the long-term care benefit costs must be reduced accordingly when applying.

Mr. A contested the Corporation's decision, arguing that the advanced annual leave should be included in the monthly working hours as it qualifies as annual leave under the Labor Standards Act, and filed a lawsuit.

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