근로자의 가족돌봄 경험과 가족돌봄휴직제도 개선 방안

Abstract

To support the work-family balance in Korea, the family care leave system under Equal Employment Opportunity And Work-Family Balance Assistance Act came into effect on 22 June 2008. This article examines the contents and status of the family care leave systems, surveys and analyzes workers’ experiences on family care, identifies the systems’ limitations and suggests some alternatives. The main results of the survey are as in the following. The family care leave system is not yet generalized. The respondents have been compelled to leave their work or take a leave of absence unnecessarily due to the limitations of the system or the lack of employers’ action to support family care. Some has combined work and family care strenuously or experienced a vacuum in care. The shortage of family care leave has made respondents consider resignation or experience various problems. And some has suffered from unfavorable treatments due to the leave. On the basis of the survey results, this article analyzes the limitations and builds the improvements. It suggests as alternatives for modifying the family care leave system, to adjust the period of family care leave, require employer to take measures for supporting care, extend the range of family members covered by family care leave, abolish the requirement for absence of other family member who can care, shorten the time limit for application of leave, strengthen sanctions against employers and come up with plans for care benefit.