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Severance pay calculator

Check eligibility and estimate Korean severance pay from the average wage of the last 3 months, the Ministry of Employment and Labor way.

Employment

Did you work 15 hours or more a week (4-week average)?

If some periods were under 15 hours a week, add those periods below as periods left out of service (MOEL guidance 3818, 2021).

Periods left out of service

Military leave, a period already settled by an interim severance payment, personal leave that the work rules exclude, and periods under 15 hours a week. Probation, maternity and parental leave, work-injury leave and employer-caused suspension stay in.

Average wage (3 months before retirement)

There is no averaging period. Check the dates, or enter the daily ordinary wage to use it instead.

₩

Fills the rows below in proportion to their days. If pay differed by month or included overtime pay, edit the rows.

Periods left out of the average wage (Enforcement Decree art. 2(1))

Both the days and the pay received in these periods are taken out.

₩

Regular, holiday and similar bonuses paid in the 12 months before. Counted × 3/12, or × 3/months worked if employed less than 12 months (Labor Ministry Directive 39).

₩

Unused leave pay that became due in the year before. Counted × 3/12. Pay that arises only because the job ends is not included.

Detailed check: Average wage calculator

Daily ordinary wage (optional)

If the average wage is lower than this, the ordinary wage is used (Labor Standards Act art. 2(2)).

Result

Enter the start date and last working day.

How it is calculated

  • Workers with at least one year of continuous service and 15 or more hours a week on average get severance pay (Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act art. 4(1)). The year is counted by the calendar, not as 365 days.
  • Severance pay = daily average wage × 30 days × days of service ÷ 365 (art. 8(1)). If the average wage is lower than the ordinary wage, the ordinary wage is used (Labor Standards Act art. 2(2)).
  • Average wage = pay in the 3 months before retirement ÷ days in that period, plus bonuses of the last year × 3/12 and unused leave pay already due × 3/12. The daily figure is rounded up to 0.01 won, as in the Ministry calculator.
  • Probation (first 3 months), maternity and parental leave, work-injury leave, employer-caused suspension and similar periods are taken out with their pay (Enforcement Decree art. 2(1)).
  • Workplaces with 4 or fewer workers have owed severance pay since 1 December 2010, at 50% until the end of 2012 (Act No. 10967, Addenda art. 8).
  • The right to claim severance pay expires after 3 years (art. 10).

This is a guide, not legal advice.

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