Teacher who groped 15 female students sues after dismissal, claiming discrimination against contract staff

A contract teacher sentenced to one year in prison for groping 15 female high school students filed a lawsuit after his release, claiming his dismissal amounted to discrimination against fixed-term teachers — and lost. He argued that terminating his contract without waiting for the outcome of his criminal trial, unlike the procedure applied to permanent teachers, constituted discriminatory treatment, but the court rejected the claim.

According to legal sources, the Seoul Administrative Court's Administrative Division 14, presided over by Judge Lee Sang-deok, ruled against the teacher, identified only as A, on June 11 in a suit he filed against the National Labor Relations Commission seeking correction of the alleged discrimination.

The court also ordered A to bear the litigation costs.

A's one-year prison sentence for groping 15 female students on 22 separate occasions was finalized in August 2023. He had initially received a three-year sentence at trial, which was reduced to one year on appeal and then upheld by the Supreme Court.

According to facts established by the criminal court, A committed the offenses between April and May 2019 while working as a contract teacher at a high school in Gyeonggi Province. He was found to have groped students under the pretense of checking their homework, or by making remarks such as "your school uniform shirt is too tight."

The trial court handed down a three-year prison sentence in November 2022. The court said A "has refused to acknowledge his wrongdoing and has consistently offered implausible excuses, including claims that the victims are committing perjury," adding that "as a result, all victims were compelled to appear in court and testify about what happened to them over the course of a three-year trial."

The court also cited secondary harm to the victims — all high school students — noting that A had filed criminal complaints against some of the victims, their mothers and other witnesses on charges including false accusation during the proceedings.

The appellate court reduced the sentence to one year in May 2023, saying A "has acknowledged his wrongdoing and shown remorse during the appeals process" and that the original sentence was too harsh given that he had reached settlements with some victims and deposited a portion of the compensation with the court. The Supreme Court upheld the one-year term.

After completing his sentence, A filed multiple civil suits against the South Korean government and Gyeonggi Province, claiming his dismissal was unjust — all of which were dismissed. The high school had notified him of the contract termination shortly after he was reported for sexual misconduct, without going through a separate disciplinary process.

A did not stop there. He filed another suit, this time arguing that contract teachers face discriminatory treatment. In January, he claimed that while permanent teachers can only be dismissed through a formal disciplinary procedure, terminating a contract teacher's employment without waiting for the outcome of a criminal trial constituted discrimination.

The administrative court rejected his argument.

The court said that permanent teachers at public elementary and secondary schools are civil servants appointed under the Education Officials Act, whereas contract teachers are workers employed under labor contracts — making their legal status fundamentally different.

The court added that the difference in treatment A cited was a consequence of applicable laws, including the Education Officials Act, and therefore fell outside the scope of the discrimination-correction regime under the Fixed-Term and Part-Time Workers Act.

Taking these points together, the court concluded that A's application for discrimination correction was inadmissible.

The ruling has not yet been finalized. A has appealed, arguing the decision was unjust, and the case is pending before the Seoul High Court.