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Expectant parents and caregivers take part in an empathy talk with a speaker at "Seoul Children Empathy Talk," held at Seoul Gallery in Seoul City Hall on the 3rd. / Reporter Jeong Jae-hoon

Going forward, parents will be able to take parental leave in short 1-2 week increments when they need to care for a child at home due to school closures, breaks, illness, or accidents. In addition, while men were previously only able to take parental leave after a child's birth, they will now also be permitted to take leave while their spouse is pregnant.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 11th that a Cabinet meeting approved revisions to the enforcement decrees of the Act on Equal Employment and Support for Work-Family Reconciliation and the Employment Insurance Act, reflecting these changes. The revisions are intended to set out detailed provisions for amendments to the two laws that were promulgated in March.

Under the revised enforcement decree, starting September 18, male employees will be able to take parental leave before their child is born if their pregnant spouse faces health risks such as miscarriage or premature birth. Short-term parental leave can be used once per year, and the period used is deducted from the employee's total parental leave allowance, though it does not count toward the limit on the number of times leave can be split.

The revision also introduces leave (with pay) for spouses following a miscarriage or stillbirth, and narrows the grounds on which employers can deny reduced working hours during the parenting period. Miscarriage/stillbirth leave can be taken for up to 5 days (with the first 3 days paid), and for companies eligible for preferential support, 100% of ordinary wages will be subsidized during the paid leave period, up to 84,210 won for 1 day, 168,420 won for 2 days, and 252,630 won for 3 days.

Currently, employees with less than six months of tenure cannot use reduced working hours if their job duties are difficult to split, if it would seriously disrupt normal business operations, or if a replacement worker cannot be hired.

Going forward, however, reduced working hours will apply even when hiring a replacement worker proves difficult. This means employers will no longer be able to deny an employee's request for reduced working hours during the parenting period solely because they couldn't find a replacement.

A Ministry of Employment and Labor official said, "With the introduction of short-term parental leave, employees will be able to respond to short-term caregiving needs in a timely manner," adding, "We expect this to help men participate in childcare and caregiving throughout the entire process, from pregnancy through childbirth."

                                                                                                           Kim Bo-young