It has been argued that not a few employees are subjected to so-called "annual leave," which prevents them from taking annual leave as much as they want by law.

It has been pointed out that the government's reform of working hours, which allows people to work up to 69 hours a week and take a break from driving, will only increase working hours.

The civic group Jig-Gung-Jil 119 revealed that 229 (96.41 percent) of the 9 leave-related complaints last year were about "restrictions on annual leave."

This was followed by "illegal granting of annual leave" (43 cases, 18.8 percent) and "non-payment of annual leave allowance" (30 cases, 13.1 percent), which did not provide all the annual leave guaranteed by law.

"Most workers can't take annual leave when they want to," Jig-Gung119 pointed out, "How can you take a month's long vacation when you can even take a one-day vacation?"

One informant told Jig-Gung119 that "my boss is blatantly dissatisfied with the use of annual leave" and that "when I said that I have the right to use annual leave, I said, 'Which workplace do you use up your annual leave?'"

Another informant said, "My boss approved annual leave, but he reversed it, saying, 'I'll decide tomorrow according to my mood,' and finally I refused," and "When I asked why I couldn't use annual leave, he said, 'Try a massage.'"

"The reality is that even the 119-hour week cap is not properly observed, and the statutory annual leave cannot be used freely," said Jig-Gung-jeol52, criticizing the government's reform of working hours as a 'law that promotes overwork' that allows employers to drive and use workers when they want, rather than a law of driving and driving to rest."

"The government says to take a 'month's life' by collecting leave, but in order for a month's vacation to occur, you have to work at least 117 hours of overtime," he said, adding, "You have to work 12 hours a day for 30 days or 10 hours for 60 days."

In a survey of 119,1 workers conducted late last year by Job30, 1.<> percent of respondents said they were "not free to take statutory paid leave."