A regional labor commission has ruled that a secondary battery company acted unlawfully when it suspended an employee for 15 days after he attended a university job fair on half-day leave.
Some say the decision reaffirms the principle that while employers hold inherent disciplinary authority, the grounds and severity of any punishment must meet standards of reasonableness and proportionality.
According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) North Chungcheong Province chapter, the North Chungcheong Regional Labor Relations Commission recently upheld an unfair-suspension relief petition filed by a worker, identified only as A, at Jaese Neungwon, a company specializing in cathode materials for secondary batteries.
The commission did not disclose its detailed reasoning, but it is understood to have found the grounds the company cited for the suspension difficult to accept and ordered the disciplinary action rescinded.
A received the 15-day suspension after submitting a half-day leave request after the fact when he attended a university job fair in May. The company argued that A had left the workplace without authorization and that his attendance at the fair — representing the company without its approval — had caused financial harm, given that the facility handles nationally designated core technology.
A rebuffed those claims, saying the post-hoc request was unavoidable because the approving manager was on annual leave at the time, and that he had informed his team leader and colleagues of his plans in advance, meaning the absence was not unauthorized.
During its review, the commission is understood to have weighed the fact that A's half-day leave had been shared with colleagues beforehand and that his participation in a job fair introducing the company to university students could not reasonably be seen as causing actual harm — concluding that a 15-day suspension was excessive.
The KCTU's Textile, Chemical and Food Workers' Union Daejeon-North Chungcheong branch said the ruling "reaffirms that even where an employer holds personnel and disciplinary authority, discipline must be carried out reasonably and in accordance with relevant rules and procedures," adding that "the company must comply with the commission's ruling immediately."
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