Spouse's 'Pregnancy Checkup' Leave Used... Dedicated Leave to Be Introduced

Legislative Notice of Amendments to Local Government Employees Service Regulations
Mandatory Approval of "Maternity Protection Time" in Early and Late Pregnancy

A new type of leave will be established for local government employees to use when accompanying their spouses to pregnancy checkups.

On the 10th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that it will publicly notify the proposed amendments to the "Local Government Employees Service Regulations" and the "Local Government Employees Disciplinary and Appeal Regulations" from today until the 20th of next month.

According to the proposed amendment to the Local Government Employees Service Regulations, male employees will be able to use "Pregnancy Checkup Accompanying Leave" within a 10-day limit to accompany their spouses to pregnancy checkups. Currently, female employees can use pregnancy checkup leave within a 10-day limit, but male employees have had to use their annual leave when accompanying their spouses to pregnancy checkups. The regulation was amended with the intention of allowing spouses of pregnant employees to participate in care from the pregnancy stage.

Additionally, the use of "Maternity Protection Time" will be guaranteed for employees in early or late pregnancy. Currently, pregnant employees must obtain approval after applying to use up to 2 hours per day of maternity protection time. In the future, if an employee applies to use maternity protection time within 12 weeks of pregnancy or after 32 weeks, the approver must grant permission.

The proposed amendment to the Local Government Employees Disciplinary and Appeal Regulations specifies the types of materials that administrative agencies can request from investigative and prosecutorial agencies to proceed with disciplinary procedures. Following the amendment of the Local Government Officials Act at the end of last year, administrative agencies that have been notified of the conclusion of investigations regarding their employees can request materials from investigative agencies for disciplinary procedures.

Furthermore, grounds will be established to allow correction decisions when there are clear errors in disciplinary resolutions, such as calculation or documentation mistakes. A correction decision refers to a decision to properly rectify obvious errors such as mistakes in records in a judgment.

Kim Min-jae, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, stated, "We will actively create working conditions that allow local government employees during pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting periods to balance their duties without burden while raising children," and added, "We will continue to improve the system by gathering various opinions from local governments and the field."