[Edaily Reporter KWON HYE-ME ] Starting next year, workers who report to work on May 1, Labor Day, will be able to choose “substitute holiday” arrangements—where they receive an additional day’s pay and take a day off on another date—instead of receiving 2.5 times their regular wages.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 22nd, the ministry announced, “We have revised and issued the ‘Guidelines on the Application of the Labor Standards Act Regarding Labor Day’ to allow for Labor Day holiday substitution, ensuring that workers who are unavoidably required to work on Labor Day can take a day off on another date.”

Starting this year, Labor Day has been designated as a statutory holiday, guaranteeing a paid day off for all workers, including public servants and teachers. However, unlike other public holidays, the substitution rule had not previously applied to Labor Day. This was because Labor Day was not a public holiday under the “Regulations on Public Holidays for Government Offices,” but rather a paid holiday established by a separate Labor Day Act.

Consequently, if employees worked on Labor Day at workplaces with five or more employees, employers were required to pay up to 2.5 times the regular wage—calculated as 100% of the regular wage plus a 50% holiday work premium and 100% of the paid holiday allowance. This means that an employee whose usual daily wage is 100,000 won would receive up to 250,000 won for working on Labor Day.

However, starting next year, there will be an additional option. Instead of paying 2.5 times the daily wage, employers can designate another workday as a paid holiday through a written agreement with employee representatives. In this case, employees will receive twice their daily wage—comprising one day’s worth of paid holiday pay and one day’s worth of wages for the day worked—and will be entitled to a separate substitute holiday.

Furthermore, if Labor Day coincides with a Saturday, Sunday, or another public holiday in accordance with the “Act on Public Holidays” and the “Regulations on Public Holidays for Government Offices,” the first non-holiday following that date is designated as a substitute holiday. The substitute holiday for Labor Day is also a paid holiday.