EveryoneWork

Calculating Statutory Korean Severance Pay for a September 30 Resignation: Exact 3-Month Average Wage Guide

2026-09-27 · 3 min read

Calculating Average Wage Period and Days for a September 30 Resignation

Under the South Korean Labor Standards Act, an employee's official resignation takes legal effect on the calendar day immediately following their final working day. Consequently, an employee whose final day on the job is September 30 has an official legal resignation date of October 1. This legal timing establishes the preceding three-month statutory calculation window as July 1 through September 30, encompassing a total of 92 calendar days (31 days in July, 31 days in August, and 30 days in September).

The cornerstone of statutory severance pay in South Korea is the average daily wage, defined as the total gross remuneration earned during the final three calendar months divided by the total number of calendar days in that period. Accurately determining the exact calendar count and calculation window is critical, as minor date discrepancies can distort the resulting daily wage rate. By entering your initial hire date and official resignation date into Korean Severance Pay Calculator, you can immediately confirm your total tenure in calendar days and verify the precise three-month wage calculation window.

Adding the 3-Month Base Salary and 3/12 Annual Bonus Portion

The statutory severance formula in South Korea is defined as: Average Daily Wage × 30 days × (Total Employed Calendar Days ÷ 365). In calculating the total wage base for the preceding three months, employers and workers must include not only regular gross monthly base pay and standard recurring allowances, but also a pro-rated 3/12 portion of all performance bonuses and unused annual leave compensation paid over the preceding 12 months.

Consider a practical scenario involving an employee hired on October 1, 2023, who resigns on September 30, 2026, completing exactly three full calendar years of service (1,096 total employed days, accounting for the 2024 leap year). The official resignation date is October 1, 2026. Over the final three-month period from July through September, the employee received a gross monthly base salary of 3,000,000 KRW each month (totaling 9,000,000 KRW), along with 2,400,000 KRW in regular annual bonuses disbursed during the preceding 12 months.

• Total gross salary for the preceding 3 months: 9,000,000 KRW
• Pro-rated 3/12 annual bonus addition: 2,400,000 KRW × (3 ÷ 12) = 600,000 KRW
• Total statutory calculation wage base: 9,600,000 KRW
• Average daily wage: 9,600,000 KRW ÷ 92 days = 104,347.83 KRW
• Estimated statutory severance pay (pre-tax): 104,347.83 KRW × 30 days × (1,096 ÷ 365 days) = 9,400,000 KRW

To ensure an accurate computation without manual errors, input your monthly gross base earnings alongside your annualized bonus figures directly into Korean Severance Pay Calculator, which applies the correct statutory 3/12 factor automatically.

Key Exclusions, Statutory Eligibility, and Scope of Calculation

Statutory severance pay is mandatory for all employees who have completed at least one continuous year of employment with an average of 15 or more working hours per week. Workers with less than one continuous year of service are not legally eligible for statutory severance. While the standard statutory formula provides an accurate baseline pre-tax severance estimate, individual final payouts may vary based on company employment rules, collective bargaining agreements, ordinary wage minimum substitution rules (where severance must use ordinary daily wage if it exceeds the calculated average wage), authorized unpaid leaves of absence, statutory retirement income tax withholding, or enrollment in defined contribution (DC) corporate pension plans.

All calculation inputs and compensation figures entered into the tool remain strictly private within your browser memory and are never transmitted to external servers. If you are preparing to conclude your employment at the close of the third quarter, you can quickly estimate your pre-tax statutory entitlement using Korean Severance Pay Calculator directly in your browser.