HR Compliance in Korea: 2026 Checklist for Foreign Employers

Which rules apply at 1, 5 and 10 employees?

Contracts, minimum wage, payslips, social insurance, severance and privacy rules apply from the first employee. Most Labor Standards Act protections start at 5 regular employees, and written work rules are required at 10.

Headcount means people regularly employed, part-timers included. If you hire through an Employer of Record, the provider is the legal employer, so its larger headcount usually means the 5+ and 10+ rules already apply.

What must contracts, payslips and payroll records include?

Give each employee a written contract stating wage, working hours, holidays, leave, place of work and duties, and an itemized payslip (임금명세서, Imgeum Myeongseseo) every time you pay.

• Contract: labor authorities and courts work in Korean, so a bilingual Korean–English contract is the practical standard. Our labor law guide covers probation, fixed terms and dismissal.
• Payslip: employee identification, payment date, total pay, each component (base pay, allowances, bonuses), how each is calculated, and every deduction.
• Wage ledger (임금대장, Imgeum Daejang): days and hours worked, overtime, night and holiday hours, amounts by item and deductions.
• Retention: keep contracts, wage ledgers, leave records and other key employment documents for 3 years.
• Salary packages: if you quote an annual package (연봉, Yeonbong), show severance separately; it cannot legally be pre-paid in monthly instalments.

When must you enroll employees in social insurance?

Enroll each new employee in health insurance within 14 days of the start date. When you first become an employer, register the workplace for health, employment and industrial accident insurance within 14 days, and for National Pension by the 15th of the following month.

The other schemes allow slightly later filing for new hires, but filing all four within 14 days of the start date meets every deadline. Late enrollment leads to retroactive contributions and surcharges. For office roles, budget roughly 10.5–11.5% in employer contributions on top of gross salary; in 2027 the National Pension rate rises to 10% while health insurance stays at 7.19%. Our tax and social insurance guide breaks down each scheme.

How should you track working hours and manage leave?

Record actual hours for every employee. The wage ledger must show hours worked, including overtime, night and holiday hours, and breaching the 52-hour weekly cap can bring up to 2 years' imprisonment or a KRW 20 million fine.

• Overtime: overtime, night (22:00–06:00) and holiday work earn a 50% premium. MOEL is targeting misuse of comprehensive or fixed-overtime pay (포괄임금제, Pogwal Imgeumje) in 2026, so pay for hours above any fixed allowance.
• Annual leave: 1 day per month in year one, 15 days after a year with at least 80% attendance, up to 25. Unused leave must be paid unless you follow the formal leave-promotion procedure with written reminders.
• Family leave: 90 days of maternity leave (120 for multiple births) and up to 1 year of parental leave per parent, or 1.5 years each if both parents take at least 3 months.
• Other: public holidays are paid holidays at 5+ employees, and female employees may request one day of menstrual leave a month.

What are your duties on workplace harassment and sexual harassment?

Workplace harassment (직장 내 괴롭힘, Jikjang Nae Goerophim) is banned at workplaces with 5+ employees. Once you learn of a complaint, you must investigate objectively without delay, protect the complainant and act on the findings.

Harassment means using superiority in rank or relationship to cause physical or mental suffering, or to worsen someone's work environment, beyond the appropriate scope of work. Failing to investigate or act can bring an administrative fine of up to KRW 5 million; harassment by the employer itself, up to KRW 10 million; retaliation against a complainant is a criminal offense. At 10+ employees, the work rules must cover prevention and complaint handling.

Sexual harassment prevention training is required at least once a year under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, for employees and the employer alike. It must cover the law, your internal procedure and victim support, and its content must be kept available to staff. Workplaces with fewer than 10 employees, or all one gender, may use simpler methods such as distributing materials.

How does PIPA apply to employee data and transfers abroad?

The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA; 개인정보 보호법, Gaein Jeongbo Bohobeop) covers employee data. Collect only what you need, explain how it is used, rely on contract or legal-obligation grounds for core HR processing, and use a recognized legal basis before sending data to headquarters abroad.

• Consent and identifiers: get consent for processing beyond employment and legal duties, and separate consent for sensitive data such as health information. Use resident registration numbers only where a law requires them, as for tax and social insurance.
• Transfers abroad: allowed with separate consent, when outsourcing or storage abroad is needed to perform the employee's contract and is disclosed to them, when the recipient holds a PIPC-recognized certification or sits in a country PIPC recognizes, or when a law or treaty requires it.
• Breaches: notify affected people, and the regulator where required, within 72 hours; since 11 September 2026 this also covers leaks reasonably judged likely.
• Domestic agent: needed only by a foreign company with no Korean address or place of business that has total revenue of KRW 1 trillion or more, holds data on 1 million or more Korean data subjects a day on average over the last three months of the prior year, or is told to by the PIPC. Since 2 October 2025, a qualifying company with a Korean subsidiary must appoint that subsidiary. Most small and mid-sized employers fall below these thresholds.
• Penalties: surcharges of up to 3% of total revenue, or 10% where intent or gross negligence leads to repeat violations within 3 years or a breach affecting 10 million or more people, or where ignoring a corrective order leads to a leak. The CEO now carries final responsibility.

What do the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and Yellow Envelope Act mean for you?

The Serious Accidents Punishment Act has applied to workplaces with 5+ employees since 2024, and the Yellow Envelope Act has been in force since 10 March 2026; both apply to foreign-owned employers too.

Under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the head of the business must set up and regularly check a safety and health management system covering risk assessment, safety staff and budget, and accident response. If a worker dies or several are seriously injured because those duties were neglected, the head of the business faces criminal liability, including imprisonment, and the company faces fines. Office teams still need these basics.

The Yellow Envelope Act lets unions of subcontracted workers demand bargaining from a lead company with real control over their working conditions, and limits damages claims against strikers. If you set schedules, methods or pay for outsourced teams in Korea, document where your control ends.

What happens in a labor inspection, and what are the penalties?

MOEL inspects workplaces routinely, after complaints and after accidents, and in 2026 it is pursuing sanctions rather than simple correction orders. Occupational safety inspectors rise from 895 in 2025 to 2,095 in 2026, with targets including repeated wage-arrears complaints, excessive hours, comprehensive-pay misuse, harassment claims and vulnerable workers such as foreign nationals.

Inspectors ask for contracts, wage ledgers, payslips, time and leave records, work rules, insurance filings and training records.

How Hire From Korea helps

Hire From Korea is a recruiter-led hiring partner, founded by Daniel Ahn and Sandy Kang and operated by DevTeam Co., Ltd. in Incheon, that finds and vets Korean professionals for companies abroad. Alongside a shortlist of 3–5 candidates and bilingual interview coordination, it offers contract review, payroll and tax support, and EOR setup as optional services on a custom quote. Fees are a USD 500–1,000 setup fee and a 15–20% success fee on first-year salary, charged only on a successful hire; start a request.

Frequently asked questions

Do Korean labor laws apply if my company has no entity in Korea?

Yes. If someone works for you in Korea as an employee in practice, Korean labor law applies whatever the contract says. Payroll and workplace social insurance normally need a Korean registration, so most foreign companies without an entity use an EOR or set one up; see our entity setup guide.

How long should HR records be kept in Korea?

Keep contracts, wage ledgers, leave records and other key employment documents for at least 3 years. Tax and data-protection rules set their own periods, so agree a retention schedule with your accountant and delete personal data you no longer need.

Are remote contractors covered by these compliance rules?

Genuine independent contractors fall outside the Labor Standards Act, so payslips, leave and work rules do not apply. A contractor who works like an employee, with fixed hours, close supervision and exclusivity, can be reclassified and claim severance, leave and back pay.

Do I need a privacy officer for a small Korean team?

Every organization handling personal data must have a privacy officer. In a small business that appoints no one, the owner or representative is the privacy officer by default.

Sources

• Korean Law Information Center — Labor Standards Act — written terms, payslips, records, hours, leave, harassment, work rules and penalty articles
• Easy Law (Ministry of Government Legislation) — Four social insurance registration — workplace and health insurance enrollment deadlines
• Easy Law — Employer duties on sexual harassment — annual training, simplified methods under 10 employees, KRW 5 million fine
• Lee & Ko via Asia Business Law Journal — Doing business in Korea: data privacy compliance (May 2025) — domestic agent thresholds, transfer bases, 72-hour notification, 3% surcharge
• Kim & Chang — Update on domestic agent designation requirements (October 2025) — Korean subsidiary rule from 2 October 2025
• Seoul Shinmun — PIPA amendment with 10% revenue surcharge takes effect (September 2026) — 10% surcharge, CEO responsibility, breach notice for likely leaks
• Money Today — Wage arrears penalty raised to 5 years or KRW 50 million (June 2026) — effective dates for wages and severance
• DLA Piper — South Korea sharpens labour and safety enforcement in 2026 (March 2026) — 2026 inspection plan and targets

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change — confirm specifics with a licensed Korean labor attorney (노무사) or tax accountant.