A proposed amendment to the Public Holidays Act was promulgated into law on July 7, 2021.
 
At the time of its passage, substitute holidays (e.g., recognizing the next business day as a public holiday if it falls on a weekend) were expected to apply to all public holidays, including Christmas.  However, considering the adverse impact an excessive number of substitute holidays can have on the business sector, the government decided that it would not apply substitute holidays to New Year’s Day (January 1), Buddha’s Birthday (April 8 in the lunar calendar), Memorial Day (June 6) and Christmas (December 25), which are all public holidays but not national holidays.
 
In accordance with the above decision, the government recently announced the Proposed Amendment to the Regulations on Holidays of Government Offices (Presidential Decree) on July 16, 2021.  The Proposed Amendment designates a total of 11 public holidays as being subject to substitute holidays while excluding the four public holidays described above.  In addition, the Proposed Amendment specifically provides substitute holidays for National Liberation Day, National Foundation Day and Hangeul Day in the second half of 2021, which overlap with Saturdays and Sundays.
 
In principle, because additional holidays are usually provided rather than rescheduled to different dates, employees will be entitled to two paid days off (i.e., weekly holidays and substitute holidays) when substitute holidays apply.  That said, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (the “MOEL”) clarified that companies are not required to recognize a public holiday as a paid day off if such public holiday overlaps with a day on which work is not scheduled (MOEL Wages and Working Hours Division-743, March 30, 2020).  Therefore, we advise companies to note the foregoing position of the MOEL with regard to payment of holiday work allowances.

[Korean version]