"Non-regular Job Experience Not Recognized, Discrimination Resolution" Human Rights Commission Recommendation, Kyungpook National University Hospital 'Rejected'

National Human Rights Commission of Korea building. Photo by Human Rights Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Kyungpook National University Hospital ultimately refused to accept the National Human Rights Commission's recommendation to improve related regulations to eliminate discrimination against non-regular workers' career non-recognition.

On the 7th, the National Human Rights Commission announced that it had recommended Kyungpook National University Hospital to revise related regulations to prevent discrimination against employees based on non-regular work experience prior to joining, but the hospital did not accept the recommendation. According to the Human Rights Commission, complainant A worked as a radiologic technologist in the Department of Radiology at Kyungpook National University Hospital after working for two years as a radiologic technologist in the Department of Radiology at another tertiary hospital. However, Kyungpook National University Hospital did not recognize this experience as career experience because it was non-regular employment at the time, and A filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, claiming this was discrimination.

Kyungpook National University Hospital countered that non-regular work experience at other hospitals has limitations in submitting objectively credible evidence, and there are issues in judging accuracy due to document discrepancies and forgery problems, making it difficult to apply seniority. The hospital also argued that the scope of career recognition for hired employees falls under institutional discretion.

At the time, the Human Rights Commission judged that it was unreasonable to determine career recognition solely based on the employment type as non-regular without analyzing the content of past experience, and considering the credibility of the hospital where A worked before joining, it was difficult to see a significant risk to doubt the credibility of the non-regular work experience.

Furthermore, the Commission stated, "Excluding non-regular work experience at other hospitals prior to joining solely due to concerns about risks such as document forgery or alteration is merely an administrative convenience measure," adding, "If regular and non-regular work experiences are treated differently, the degree of such differentiation should be reasonable, but completely not recognizing non-regular work experience constitutes employment discrimination."

In response to this recommendation from the Human Rights Commission, Kyungpook National University Hospital stated, "It is not possible to quantify the scope of work or authority granted to regular and non-regular employees by institution," and added, "Applying uniform standards in situations where objective proof is impossible may cause another form of discrimination."

Additionally, the hospital replied, "All applicants, including the complainant, were given the same opportunity as other applicants to become regular employees based on their performance," and "From the perspective that efforts to become regular employees should be rewarded, non-regular work experience cannot be recognized."

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