The Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Employees Caring for Children or Other Family Members was amended on May 31, 2024. Some of those amendments, which are as follows, take effect on October 1, 2025.

Obligation for Achieving a Flexible Working Style

As of October 1, 2025, an employer will be obligated to take measures which enable applicable employees to achieve a flexible working style. Applicable employees are those employees who are raising a child between the ages of three and the start of elementary school. Under the new obligation, an employer is required to offer at least two of the following five options to applicable employees:

Applicable employees can then choose to use one of the options made available by the employer.

With respect to work from home and special leave, employer must allow applicable employees to use these options on an hourly basis. In addition, before choosing which measures to offer, an employer must obtain an opinion from the majority union (or the employee representative if there is no majority union at a workplace).

Obligation to Provide Individual Notification

Under the amendments, an employer will also be obligated to individually notify employees with a child under the age of three of the details of the flexible working style systems that the employer making available to the applicable employee, and the employer must confirm which of the offered options the employee would like to utilize. Such notification must be provided by at least one month before the child’s third birthday.

Working Conditions Confirmation Obligation

If either of the two conditions exist:

then, the employer has an obligation to confirm if the employee has particular desires with respect to certain working conditions that are specified by the law (e.g. working hours, work location, etc.). The employer is also required to try to accommodate the employee’s wishes in light of the company’s circumstances.