Even if You Catch COVID-19, Work on Your Own? The Right to Take Sick Leave...

End of COVID-19 Level 2 to Level 4 Isolation Support
Possibility of Setback in the Right to Take Sick Leave

As the government has effectively declared the COVID-19 endemic (periodic outbreak of infectious diseases), most remaining quarantine guidelines have been lifted. The infectious disease crisis alert level will also be lowered from 'Severe' to 'Caution' starting in June.

The issue is the 'right to take sick leave.' If the COVID-19 crisis level is downgraded, the government will end the living support allowance and paid sick leave benefits that have been provided to confirmed COVID-19 patients.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 11th, the government shifted the mandatory 7-day isolation for confirmed cases to a 5-day recommendation to expedite the return to normal life. The legal infectious disease classification for COVID-19 (from Level 2 to Level 4) is expected to be downgraded as early as next month. Ji Young-mi from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) stated at a briefing that "the transition from Level 2 to Level 4 will take about one to two months."

For now, some isolation support such as living support allowance and paid sick leave will be maintained. Currently, confirmed cases in single-person households with income below 100% of the median income receive 100,000 KRW (150,000 KRW for households of two or more) as living support allowance. Businesses with fewer than 30 employees receive paid sick leave support (45,000 KRW per day, up to 5 days).

However, these payments will cease once the infectious disease classification is adjusted from Level 2 to Level 4. According to the 'COVID-19 Crisis Level Adjustment Roadmap' announced by the KDCA in March, the government is promoting a transition to a routine management system by dividing the COVID-19 crisis into Level 1 and Level 2. When the infectious disease classification changes (from Level 2 to Level 4) and the system moves to Level 2, the living support allowance and paid sick leave will end following the shift from mandatory isolation to recommended isolation.

Nonetheless, the government plans to continuously encourage institutions to establish and implement their own guidelines to foster a culture of taking sick leave when ill. Ji Young-mi, head of the KDCA, said, "We ask each workplace to institutionalize paid sick leave or remote work and prepare to implement these measures independently." She added, "Especially, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is conducting a pilot project related to sickness benefits, and we look forward to the results." Sickness benefits are a system that compensates workers' income during periods of treatment for illnesses or injuries unrelated to work.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, it is uncertain whether the government's requests will be realized. The remote work culture, which seemed to have been established after COVID-19, appears to be fading away. As the obligation to wear masks indoors and outdoors is gradually lifted and the atmosphere of returning to normal life intensifies, companies such as Kakao, Yanolja, and POSCO have switched from remote work back to office attendance.

The awareness that "you should rest when you are sick" is also likely to regress since it has not yet been institutionalized.

On the 11th, Professor Jung Jae-hoon of Gachon University’s Department of Preventive Medicine said on MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' program, "The mandatory isolation had, in a way, legally guaranteed rest." He added, "But when the mandatory isolation changes from a legal obligation to a recommendation, some inconveniences are expected in this regard."

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