Employers named in workplace harassment cases to be barred from investigations under new labor guidelines

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has overhauled its workplace harassment response manual, recommending that employers named as perpetrators be excluded from the investigation process — a move aimed at blocking so-called "self-investigations" and strengthening both victim protection and the credibility of inquiries.

The ministry said Wednesday it had prepared a revised edition of its "Workplace Harassment Prevention and Response Manual" and would distribute it to regional labor offices and employer associations nationwide.

The prohibition on workplace harassment took effect in July 2019. Since then, reported cases have risen consistently, with complaints filed at labor offices more than doubling in three years — from 7,774 in 2021 to 16,373 last year.

The revision focuses on improving the fairness of investigation procedures and helping workplaces make clearer determinations about whether harassment has occurred.

The most significant change is a recommendation that employers reported as harassers be excluded from the investigation process. In some workplaces, accused employers had been directly involved in conducting the very investigations into their own conduct — a conflict of interest the updated manual now moves to prevent as a matter of principle.

Safeguards to ensure the impartiality of investigation committees have also been strengthened. The manual clarifies procedures for disqualifying or recusing committee members, and recommends that workplaces fully explain their findings and the reasoning behind their conclusions to the person who filed the complaint.

The manual has also been updated with the latest court rulings and administrative interpretations to help workplaces identify what does and does not constitute harassment.

Examples now recognized as potential harassment include deliberately excluding a specific employee by withholding team-leader meeting schedules from them alone, and repeatedly demeaning or insulting a particular employee in public settings.

The manual also specifies that providing a specific employee with a noticeably inferior computer without reasonable justification, or pressuring someone to attend a company dinner by threatening to put them on a blacklist if they decline, may also constitute harassment.

By contrast, a work transfer that adds 30 minutes to an employee's commute due to operational needs, or being assigned one additional shift compared with other work teams, was deemed a routine personnel or operational measure.

The manual also states that a supervisor checking an employee's attendance via messenger, or an employee receiving the lowest possible performance rating alone, is not sufficient to constitute workplace harassment.

The ministry said it would also strengthen prevention efforts. It plans to expand free workplace harassment prevention training — run jointly with the Korea Employment and Labor Education Institute — with a focus on small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, and to make greater use of "harassment assessment expert committees" at regional labor offices. For cases requiring victim relief, the ministry said it would concentrate administrative resources to speed up resolution.

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon said labor inspectors face significant difficulties handling workplace harassment cases, and added that the ministry would "actively review" granting inspectors the authority to suspend an investigation when subjected to verbal abuse, assault or other improper conduct.