Korean Air to Send All Employees on Rotational Paid Leave for 6 Months

Korean Air will send all its 20,000 employees at home and abroad on a rotational paid leave for six months. It will finalize a detailed plan within this week.

The company reached the decision through emergency meetings with the ordinary employee union and the pilot union. Specific working conditions such as the salary level during the leave will be announced this week.

The rotational leave program will last for six months, but individual employees will leave work for three to four months. Employees are likely to receive about 70 percent of their salaries during the leave.

Korean Air recently met with financial authorities and creditors such as Korea Development Bank and requested direct government support in issuing corporate bonds. Yet its request was reportedly rejected as the government told it to implement an intensive self-help plan before seeking government support.

Consequently, Korean Air held an emergency meeting with the unions to prepare a self-help plan.

Previously, Korean Air had decided to execute a mandatory unpaid leave program until June 30 for 387 foreign pilots. Initially, the labor and management discussed a plan to send all employees on a one-month unpaid leave. But they agreed to implement a six-month paid leave program for all employees.