How to calculate continuous service for Korean severance pay
Understand hire date, final working day and continuous-service days for a Korean severance estimate.
Subtracting the calendar years is not enough near a one-year threshold. Korean severance calculations examine the continuous employment relationship from hire to retirement, and the government calculator uses the day after the final working day as its retirement-date input.
Start with the hire date
Continuous service generally begins when the employment relationship starts. A probationary period normally remains part of that relationship, subject to the facts.
Use the correct retirement date
For the Ministry calculator, enter the day after the final working day. Entering the final working day itself can reduce the service count by one day.
Check the one-year boundary by date
Use the actual dates and continuing employment relationship, not a simple difference between year numbers.
Excluded periods need review
Personal leave or another excluded period can make a raw date difference different from the legally recognised service period.
For an employee hired March 1, 2024 whose final working day is February 28, 2026, enter March 1, 2026 as the retirement date in the calculator. Review any excluded periods separately.
What to check
- Confirm the contractual and actual hire date.
- Distinguish the final working day from the retirement-date input.
- Identify leave, suspension or other potentially excluded periods.
- Do not decide eligibility from the calculator alone when the one-year boundary or worker status is disputed.
Continuous service and the average-wage calculation period are different concepts. A period excluded from average wage is not automatically treated the same way for total service.
Official sources checked
Standards can change. These links are provided so you can verify the current primary source.
Korea Severance Pay Calculator
Apply the baseline above with your own dates and figures.