On April 8, 2025, the Korean government officially designated June 3, 2025 as a temporary public holiday in light of the upcoming presidential election. This is a statutory holiday under Korean labor law. Below, we provide guidance on frequently asked questions regarding HR and workforce management in relation to temporary public holidays.

 

Q1. What if our company had already designated June 3 as a mandatory annual leave day?

Since temporary public holidays are statutory holidays, employees are not required to provide work on this day regardless of whether the company had designated it as a day of mandatory annual leave.

Even if the company and the employee representative had agreed to substitute this day with annual leave (under Article 62 of the Labor Standards Act), annual leave must not be deducted. The employer must grant the day off with pay without consuming the employee’s leave entitlement.
 

Q2. Does this apply to our company (or fixed-term emplooyees)?

Temporary public holidays fall under Article 55(2) of the Labor Standards Act.
However, this article does not apply to:

• Workplaces with fewer than 5 employees, or
• Employees working less than 15 hours per week.

 

In these cases, employers are not obligated to provide a paid day off on the temporary public holiday.

For all other cases—including fixed-term or contract employees—the holiday must be granted with pay.

 

Q3. Should we pay wages even if employees do not work on the temporary holiday? 

It depends on whether the employee is monthly-salaried or paid by the hour/day.
See the table below for details:

 

Q4. What if June 3 is already a scheduled rest day or weekly day off for employees?

If June 3 was originally a non-working day for the employee (e.g., unpaid day off or regular weekly day off), the employer is not required to provide an additional paid holiday.

If June 3 falls on an employee’s weekly holiday, only one paid holiday is recognized and no extra paid day off is required.