"If You Are Sick, You Should Rest!" Pohang City Officially Launches 'Sangbyeong Allowance Pilot Project' for Office Workers and Self-Employed

Injuries and illnesses unrelated to work... 43,960 KRW paid per day during rest period

Pohang City, Gyeongbuk Province, will officially launch a pilot project for sickness benefits starting July 4, allowing employees and self-employed individuals to take sick leave.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Dongguk Lee] Pohang City, Gyeongbuk Province, will implement the 'Sick Leave Allowance Pilot Project' from July 4 to provide rest and income security for ill workers.

The sick leave allowance is a system that compensates income so that workers can focus on treatment when economic activities are difficult due to injuries or illnesses unrelated to work. It responds to the risk of income loss and poverty caused by injury or illness and is an important social safety net in terms of promoting workers' health rights.

Once the sick leave allowance system is established, it can be flexibly used during periodic infectious disease situations to prevent the spread of infectious diseases through workplaces.

This sick leave allowance pilot project is one of the national tasks of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration and is significant as the first step to introduce the sick leave allowance, which has remained a long-standing issue in the process of establishing Korea's social security system.

The first phase of the pilot project will be implemented for one year starting July 4 this year. Pohang City was selected in the regional selection contest last April and will implement three project models applied differently to two local governments each, along with Jongno-gu in Seoul, Cheonan City in Chungnam, Bucheon City in Gyeonggi, Changwon City in Gyeongnam, and Suncheon City in Jeonnam.

This is to compare and analyze policy effects such as the scale of beneficiaries, average support period, and required finances for each model, and to accumulate empirical evidence and cases for smooth social discussions.

In the pilot project, Pohang City corresponds to (Model 1) together with Bucheon City in Gyeonggi, Jongno-gu in Seoul and Cheonan City in Chungnam correspond to (Model 2), and Changwon City in Gyeongnam and Suncheon City in Jeonnam correspond to (Model 3), respectively.

The first phase of the sick leave allowance pilot project is operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Corporation, while Pohang City will cooperate and support by discovering partner workplaces, promoting the pilot project, supporting qualification screening and beneficiary management, and establishing a stakeholder cooperation system.

Mayor Kang-deok Lee said, “Since this project is essential to guarantee the health rights of local workers and prevent income polarization caused by illness, we will actively support the pilot project at the local government level to ensure it is stably established through an organic cooperation system with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Corporation.”