Court Rules "Resignation Withdrawn, Dismissal Considered 'Unfair Termination'"

Seoul Administrative Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A court ruling has determined that a company’s processing of an employee’s resignation as a termination, despite the employee having withdrawn the resignation before it was accepted, constitutes unfair dismissal.

On the 20th, the Administrative Court of Seoul, Administrative Division 3 (Chief Judge Yoo Hwanwoo) announced that it ruled against plaintiff A Media Company in a lawsuit seeking to cancel the Central Labor Commission chairman’s decision on unfair dismissal relief.

The court stated, "It is difficult to view employee B as having definitively expressed an intention to resign, and the resignation letter was submitted as part of a compromise amid conflicts arising from labor union branch activities," adding, "B communicated the intention to withdraw the resignation before the company accepted the resignation and completed internal approval."

Furthermore, the court said, "A Media Company’s termination of the employment relationship with B based on the submission of the resignation letter constitutes dismissal, and since the company did not notify B in writing of the reason and timing of the dismissal as required by the Labor Standards Act, this is unfair dismissal."

Previously, in 2018, reporter B of A Media Company posted a public notice demanding the withdrawal of the appointment of a new editor-in-chief who was specially hired without an open recruitment process, established a labor union, and served as the branch president of the National Union of Media Workers. In response, A Media Company imposed disciplinary actions including a six-month pay cut and transfer to a regional office, but these measures were canceled after B filed a relief application with the Seoul Regional Labor Commission.

Despite this, A Media Company repeatedly attempted disciplinary actions, and on July 8, 2019, B submitted a resignation letter to the vice president stating, 'I wish to resign for personal reasons, please approve.' However, on the same day, B called the deputy editor again and requested, 'Please discard the resignation letter.' The vice president also did not accept the resignation at the time of receipt and tried to dissuade B, according to investigations.

Nevertheless, four days later, A Media Company notified B of termination, claiming that 'the resignation letter was internally accepted on the day of submission, and the deputy editor did not report the phone call.' After the Seoul Regional Labor Commission ruled this as unfair dismissal, A Media Company applied for a retrial with the Central Labor Commission, and after being rejected, filed an administrative lawsuit with the court.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.