Severance Pay Eligibility, Calculation, and Unpaid-Wage Response Guide
A guide organized according to official statutes, explaining whether foreign workers are eligible for severance pay when leaving a job in Korea, how to confirm average wage and continuous service period, and where to report non-payment.
Direct answer
A guide organized according to official statutes, explaining whether foreign workers are eligible for severance pay when leaving a job in Korea, how to confirm average wage and continuous service period, and where to report non-payment.
- How far this is checked
- Partly verified — confirm the details with the official sources below before you act.
Sources
Task
Labor
Visa
All visas
Program
General
Region
Nationwide
Direct AI answers: disabled. The conclusion can change depending on worker status, continuous service period, weekly contractual working hours, the average-wage calculation period, the retirement pension account, residence status, and workplace records, so confirmation with the Ministry of Employment and Labor (고용노동부) or a labor affairs specialist is required.
This document covers retirement benefits received as severance pay and retirement pension. For the National Pension lump-sum refund, see work/pension-refund separately.
Key Summary
| Question | What to check first by official standard |
|---|---|
| Can I receive it? | Whether the continuous service period is 1 year or more, and whether the average weekly contractual working hours over 4 weeks is 15 hours or more |
| How much is it? | For each year of the continuous service period, 30 days' worth or more of average wage |
| When should I receive it? | Within 14 days from the date the cause for payment (retirement, etc.) arises. May be extended by agreement between the parties if there are special circumstances |
| Where do I receive it? | In principle, transferred to an Individual Retirement Pension (IRP) account, etc., designated by the worker |
| By when must I claim it? | The right to receive severance pay is extinguished by prescription if not exercised for 3 years |
Being a foreigner alone does not exclude you from severance pay eligibility. However, do not judge automatically based on the name of the residence status alone, such as E-9, E-2, or the F series; you must confirm whether you are actually a worker under the Labor Standards Act and whether the continuous service period and working hours requirements are met.
Eligibility Requirements
Article 4 of the Act on the Guarantee of Workers' Retirement Benefits (근로자퇴직급여 보장법) provides that an employer must establish one or more retirement benefit systems in order to pay benefits to a retiring worker. However, this obligation does not apply to the following workers:
- A worker whose continuous service period is less than 1 year
- A worker whose contractual working hours per week, averaged over 4 weeks, is less than 15 hours
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