Supreme Court: "To Receive Parental Leave Pay, Application Must Be Submitted Within Deadline"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that if parental leave pay is not applied for within the designated period, the pay cannot be received. According to the Employment Labor Act, which stipulates a 12-month application period for parental leave pay, if this deadline is missed, the pay cannot be received regardless of the statute of limitations on the right to payment.

On the 18th, the Supreme Court en banc (Presiding Justice Min Yusook) announced that it overturned the lower court ruling that had ruled in favor of Mr. A in his appeal lawsuit against the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office regarding the non-payment of parental leave pay, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

Mr. A took three months of maternity leave and one year of parental leave around October 2014. However, he applied for parental leave pay and maternity leave pay much later, in February and March 2017, respectively.

However, the Gangnam branch of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office did not pay Mr. A, stating that he did not apply for the pay within the prescribed period. On the other hand, Mr. A argued that he was entitled to receive the pay, citing the three-year statute of limitations specified for claims to parental leave and maternity leave pay.

In the first trial, Mr. A's claim was dismissed. It was held that under the Employment Insurance Act, maternity leave and parental leave pay require "application within the application period" as a procedural requirement.

On the other hand, the second trial canceled the non-payment disposition of maternity leave and parental leave pay as claimed by Mr. A. It regarded the provision to "apply within the application period" for maternity and parental leave pay as a recommendatory provision rather than a mandatory one.

However, the Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 8 (for reversal and remand) to 5 (for dismissal of appeal) that the application deadline provision is a "mandatory provision to promptly settle legal relations concerning parental leave pay," ruling against Mr. A. The court pointed out that since the application deadline provision clearly states that the application must be made within a certain period, alternative interpretations are inevitably limited.

On the other hand, five justices?Park Sangok, Park Junghwa, Min Yusook, Kim Seonsu, and Lee Heunggu?opined that the application deadline provision is a "recommendatory provision urging application" and voted to dismiss the appeal.

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