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4 in 10 workers unable to take paid sick leave at work: survey

Published: 25 May. 2025, 17:59 Updated: 25 May. 2025, 18:35

A logistics terminal on strike on Dec. 28, 2021, in Gyeonggi [YONHAP]

Four out of 10 people were unable to use paid leave at work when they were sick, a civic group said Sunday.

A survey by the pro-labor civic group Gabjil 119 found that 38.4 percent of the respondents were not free to use paid sick leave, whereas only 16.5 percent of civil servants and public institution workers said the same.

As for businesses with fewer than five employees, 46.8 percent responded negatively to whether they could use paid sick leave.

The survey was conducted online on 1,000 people aged 19 and older from Feb. 10-17.

Of them, 280 people said they had been sick with the flu or an epidemic disease in the past year, but nearly half of them said they could not use leave of absence from work.

Over 80 percent of the respondents said they agreed with the implementation of a sickness benefit system that preserves the worker's income even in cases of non-work-related injuries or illness.

YONHAP