[THE VIEW] Parental Leave: An Unattainable Right

Labor Market Structure Makes Temporary Hiring Difficult
SME Practices and Bias Against Male Leave Also Play a Role
Effective Implementation Requires Structural and Cultural Support

Both South Korea and the United States have established legal frameworks that allow parents to take time off work for childbirth and childcare. In South Korea, the law guarantees 90 days of maternity leave and up to one year of parental leave, during which the Employment Insurance system pays 80% of the employee's regular wage, providing partial income replacement. Both men and women are entitled to these rights equally.

Similarly, in the United States, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. However, eligibility is limited to employees at workplaces with 50 or more workers, and paid leave is not mandated. As a result, some states, such as California and New York, as well as large corporations like Google and Microsoft, have introduced their own paid leave policies to fill this gap.

On the surface, South Korea appears to be far superior to the United States in terms of the duration of leave and income replacement. However, when looking at actual usage rates and the lived experience of employees, it becomes clear that South Korea's system is less effective in practice. One of the key factors behind this discrepancy is the structure of substitute hiring.

In South Korea, when an employee takes extended parental leave, it is difficult to find a temporary replacement for their role. The main reasons for this are the structure of the labor market and legal restrictions. Permanent employment is the norm in South Korea, and even when short-term or contract positions are available, they are usually limited to production or service jobs. Moreover, the pool of experienced short-term office or professional workers is extremely small. Legal restrictions further complicate the issue. There are strict limits on the types of jobs that can be filled by dispatched workers, and regulations require that fixed-term employees who work for more than two years must be converted to permanent contracts. These factors make companies reluctant to hire temporary replacements.

In contrast, the situation is different in Nordic countries and some large U.S. corporations. There, part-time and contract positions make up a larger share of the workforce, and governments or companies manage dedicated pools of substitute workers. For example, large U.S. companies often fill leave vacancies through internal transfers or by assigning staff from other projects, making substitute hiring an established part of organizational operations. In addition, well-developed job manuals help new hires adapt quickly and easily.

Office workers working late at night. Photo by Getty Images Bank

However, in South Korea, if no substitute worker can be found, the existing staff are left to take on the duties of the employee on leave. When this increases the workload of current employees, the law requires that overtime pay be provided. According to the Labor Standards Act, overtime must be compensated at a rate of at least 1.5 times the regular wage. In practice, however, this rule is not fully enforced. This is possible because of the widespread use of the fixed-salary system and unofficial overtime. Under the fixed-salary system, companies claim that overtime, night, and holiday pay are already included in the base salary, thereby avoiding separate payments. Unofficial overtime refers to increased workloads that are not recorded, so no obligation to pay overtime arises in such cases.

This is especially common among small and medium-sized enterprises, which may lack the financial capacity to cover additional labor costs. Hiring substitute workers and paying overtime would impose a significant burden, so it has become standard practice for existing employees to work extra hours without official records. To address this issue, the Ministry of Employment and Labor introduced a new Parental Leave Workload Sharing Subsidy this year.

In addition to the system and cost structure, domestic workplace culture is also a problem. In some companies, parental leave is seen as a special favor, and men in particular often face negative perceptions when they take it. There are also widespread concerns about potential disadvantages in promotions or performance evaluations. This atmosphere prevents workers from fully exercising their legal rights.

South Korea already provides longer parental leave and a certain level of income replacement compared to the United States. However, for this system to function as intended in reality, there must be supporting structures in place beyond the legal framework. When substitute hiring becomes routine and overtime is fairly compensated, parental leave can become a right that employees can exercise without hesitation, rather than a special privilege that requires caution. As the low birth rate has become a national issue, bridging this gap is now an urgent task.

Seo Boyoung, Professor at Indiana State University, USA