Foundation cut employee's pay beyond Labor Standards Act limit while Lee led it
Court found charges proven but suspended fine, citing rules set before his tenure
Foundation lost lawsuit seeking 58 million won in damages from the employee
Lee says no intent to harm anyone, unaware of proceedings after his resignation
Lee Yong-cheol, the nominee for minister of justice, received a suspended fine from a court in 2015 for violating the Labor Standards Act while serving as head of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Foundation, after he docked an employee's pay by 40 percent of base salary — far exceeding the legal limit. Lee apologized, saying he was "sorry for not examining compliance with the relevant laws and regulations more carefully."
According to Yonhap, the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court handed down a suspended fine of 700,000 won ($516) in April 2015 after finding that Lee had imposed a one-month pay cut on a foundation employee, reducing the employee's base salary by 40 percent.
A suspended sentence means the court found the charges proven but considered the offense minor enough to defer sentencing for a set period.
Lee was accused of imposing the one-month pay cut in February 2014 on the grounds that the employee had mishandled document-processing duties.
Under the Labor Standards Act, disciplinary pay reductions may not exceed 10 percent of an employee's total monthly wages. Lee was summarily indicted on charges of violating the act and requested a formal trial, but the court found the charges proven.
The court nonetheless decided to suspend sentencing, taking into account that the foundation — a public institution funded by Seongnam — had based its salary regulations on local government pay rules rather than the Labor Standards Act, and that those regulations had already been in place before Lee took the helm.
Meanwhile, the foundation filed a 58 million won damages suit against the employee and one other staff member, alleging losses caused by their negligence, but lost at both the first and second instance. The foundation also dismissed the employee, who was later reinstated after filing an administrative appeal.
On the lawsuit, Lee said the foundation had filed it solely to recover losses to public finances caused by employees failing to follow established procedures, and that there had been "no intent to disadvantage any particular employee." He added, however, that he had resigned as head of the foundation around May 2015 and was therefore unaware of the specific details of the subsequent trial and follow-up measures.
an@heraldcorp.com
