All workers in workplaces with more than 5 people are entitled to paid annual leave. The basic principle is that in the first year, a worker can take 1 day of annual leave for each month worked, and from the second year, they are entitled to 15 days per year plus additional days based on their length of service.

However, what about part-time workers?

Part-time workers are divided into ultra-short part-time workers who work less than 15 hours a week and short part-time workers who work 15 hours or more a week. As for ultra-short part-time workers, currently, they are not entitled to paid weekly holidays or severance pay, nor annual leave. On the other hand, short part-time workers can receive annual leave just like regular workers.

What is important here is that for part-time workers, annual leave must be calculated based on 'hours' rather than 'days'.

According to the Enforcement Decree of the Labor Standards Act, the formula for calculating annual leave for part-time workers is as follows.

At this time, what does the 'normal working hours of part-time workers' mean?

Normal working hours refer to the working hours defined in the employment contract, etc. For typical workers who work 8 hours a day from Monday to Friday, the daily normal working hours are 8 hours, and the weekly normal working hours are 40 hours.

In the case of part-time workers, calculation is necessary. The daily normal working hours for a part-time worker are obtained by dividing the total normal working hours over 4 weeks by the total number of normal working days during that period.

For example, if there is a part-time worker in a workplace where employees work 5 days a week, and this worker works 4 hours on Monday, 3 hours on Tuesday, 5 hours on Wednesday, and 8 hours on Friday each week, the daily normal working hours for this worker would be {(4 hours + 3 hours + 5 hours + 8 hours) x 4 weeks} / (5 days x 4 weeks) = 4 hours.

Now we can calculate the annual leave for part-time workers. In a workplace where a typical worker with normal working hours of 8 hours exists, a first-year part-time worker with daily normal working hours of 4 hours would accrue the following annual leave each month.

1 day x (4 hours / 8 hours) x 8 hours = 4 hours

In other words, this worker can take 4 hours of annual leave each month.

It is important to note that this leave should not be approached as a concept of 'taking a day off'. The worker is entitled to 4 hours off after working for a month, but they do not have the right to take a day off on any specific working day.

Using the previously mentioned example of 4 hours on Monday, 3 hours on Tuesday, 5 hours on Wednesday, and 8 hours on Friday makes it clearer. If this worker declares they will take a day off on Monday, they must use all of their leave. However, if they take off on Tuesday, they will have 1 hour of annual leave left, and even if they use all their leave on Wednesday, they must still work for 1 hour. This phenomenon arises because annual leave is based on 'hours', not 'days'.

Especially in workplaces with scheduling shifts, there may be cases where working hours are newly determined for each day of the week each month, so it's important to be mindful of the use and deduction of annual leave.

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