Parental leave – Now available by day
Currently, employees may apply for up to two years of parental leave before their child turns three, with government subsidies covering 80% of salary for up to six months.
Starting next year, employees will be able to apply for parental leave on a daily basis, up to 30 days within the original leave entitlement period. Both parents may share a combined total of 60 days of daily parental leave. During this time, the 80% salary subsidy remains applicable. This new flexibility allows parents to better manage short-term caregiving needs without committing to extended leave.
Family care leave – Now available by hour
Currently, employees may take up to seven days of family care leave per year, counted within the 14-day annual personal leave quota. This leave is unpaid, but employers cannot deny requests or penalize employees in terms of attendance bonuses or performance evaluations.
Beginning in 2026, employees will be able to take family care leave by the hour, with up to 56 hours per year available to address urgent or temporary childcare needs. If the 56-hour quota is used up, employees may still request unused personal leave by the hour for caregiving purposes. Employers must approve such requests and cannot deduct attendance bonuses. This update empowers employees to respond to family emergencies with greater agility and peace of mind.
To ensure a smooth rollout of these new measures, several legal and administrative updates are underway, including:
- Amendments to the Regulations for Parental Leave Without Pay
- Updates to the Labor Leave Rules
- Revisions to the Enforcement Rules of the Employment Insurance Act
- Introduction of a new guideline: “Employer Incentive Measures for Family-Friendly Parental Leave Policies”
We will keep monitoring the updates to the regulations.
