KDI "Sick Leave System Must Be Established Before Introducing Sick Pay"

Medical staff are monitoring COVID-19 patients at the Eunpyeong-gu Municipal Seobuk Hospital in Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Before introducing the 'Korean-style Sick Leave Allowance,' it has been pointed out that a sick leave system allowing workers to rest when they are ill should be established first, and the allowance amount should be differentiated according to the level of illness.

Kwon Jeong-hyun, a research fellow at the Korea Development Institute (KDI), stated this on the 28th in a report titled "Designing a New Safety Net for Sick Workers."

The sick leave allowance is a safety net that compensates for lost income so that workers can focus on treatment and recovery when economic activity is difficult due to illness or injury unrelated to work.

Regarding the pilot project for the sick leave allowance scheduled to begin in July, Research Fellow Kwon pointed out that the current pilot project model guarantees only lost income during the period of work incapacity but does not guarantee rest during sick leave or leave of absence.

He explained, "As a result, there is concern about the dual operation of the system, where vulnerable workers in precarious jobs who find it difficult to use sick leave and vacation have lower accessibility to the sick leave allowance system."

In fact, 72.2% of regular workers in workplaces with 300 or more employees are covered by the sick leave system, but the coverage rate among non-regular workers in workplaces with fewer than 30 employees is only 7.1%.

Research Fellow Kwon explained that for the sick leave allowance to function as a universal safety net, unpaid sick leave, which is currently not a statutory leave, must be legislated.

He also emphasized the need to differentiate the income replacement rate of the sick leave allowance according to the level of illness.

Since the period of work incapacity and the possibility of returning to work vary depending on the severity of the illness, increasing the level of sick leave allowance coverage for severe diseases is a more effective way to design a safety net.

Research Fellow Kwon also explained that it is necessary to prepare measures to evaluate the health status of workers after receiving the sick leave allowance and before returning to work, and to perform follow-up management functions related to job placement or transfer and health management of the work environment.