Court: "Overreaction to Dismissal of Employee for Overlooking Subcontract Bid Rigging and Accepting Bribes"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The court ruled that while it is possible to discipline employees who tolerated bid-rigging among subcontractors and regularly received gift certificates, dismissal is excessive.

On the 27th, according to the legal community, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 12 (Chief Judge Jeong Yong-seok) ruled against a terrestrial broadcaster A company in a lawsuit filed against the Central Labor Commission, which demanded the cancellation of the retrial decision for unfair dismissal of employee B.

The court stated, "It is reasonable to consider that B received money and gifts related to his duties, which violates A company's employment regulations and code of ethics, constituting grounds for disciplinary action," but judged that the dismissal was excessively severe compared to B's misconduct.

"Although B was aware of the collusion and tolerated or neglected it without taking appropriate measures, it does not appear that he conspired with or participated in the colluding companies," and "There is no evidence submitted to prove that the companies won contracts at higher prices as a result of tolerating the collusion, nor is there data to assess A company's damages," the court pointed out.

In November 2019, A company notified employee B, who was in charge of electrical facility maintenance and repair, of dismissal through the personnel committee on the grounds that he colluded with construction companies to obstruct fair bidding and received gift certificates worth a total of 5.5 million won.

Subsequently, B applied for relief to the local labor commission and received a favorable decision. A company appealed and requested a retrial at the Central Labor Commission, but it was dismissed.

In July of last year, A company filed an administrative lawsuit, claiming that B knew about the collusion among partner companies bidding for construction projects but did not stop it and instead received gift certificates as a reward for assisting the collusion.

Companies that won regular contracts related to transmission and relay stations from A company, despite being competitors, gathered estimates and submitted them to B, and some employees overlapped, revealing signs of collusion. It was investigated that B received gift certificates worth a total of 5.5 million won, 500,000 won each holiday, from 2013 to 2017.

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