Seoul Gangnam-gu Employees' Special Leave Increased from 5 to 10 Days, Doubled

Election office work, security (snow removal) duty, Labor Day, SAGA reading festival, COVID special duty, etc. have 10 days of special leave regulated, but previously 5 days were combined by ordinance; Gangnam-gu submitted to the June extraordinary session to allow 10 days from July onward

Im Seong-cheol, Head of the Seoul Regional Headquarters of the Integrated Labor Union

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The special leave for Gangnam District Office employees will be doubled from the current 5 days to 10 days.

Until now, there have been special leaves exceeding 10 days for tasks beyond basic duties such as election work, flood control (snow removal) duty, Labor Day, family reading festivals, and special COVID-19 duties, but these were rendered ineffective due to the ordinance limiting special leave to 5 days per year.

Accordingly, the Gangnam District branch of the Integrated Public Officials Union encouraged the district office to restore special leave of more than 10 days for public officials due to special duties.

As a result of these efforts, the General Affairs Division of Gangnam District Office submitted a related ordinance amendment to the district council's extraordinary session in June and responded that it would be implemented starting July.

Thus, Gangnam District Office employees will be able to regain 5 days of special leave.

Im Seong-cheol, head of the Seoul Regional Headquarters of the Integrated Public Officials Union (team leader at Gangnam District Office), posted on the union bulletin board on the 12th, saying, "I would like to express my condolences to the employees whose own work piles up due to various personnel mobilizations caused by COVID-19 day after day. Fortunately, I am pleased to share good news this morning," and conveyed that the General Affairs Division's HR team is pushing for an amendment to the special leave days ordinance.

Im explained, "The adjustment to 10 days of special leave per year is the sum of days that some employees who worked hard in the relevant fields should naturally receive, and it does not mean that the total leave days for all employees will increase. The special leave that department heads used to boast about in front of employees but was blocked by regulations and thus could not be taken reflected a reality that was not acknowledged."

He also criticized, "This is not only a problem in Gangnam District but also in all district offices in Seoul City, where no wording improvements were made for specific individuals. While we cannot blame them all collectively, it is clear that they knew it was wrong but did not change it."

He added, "What is encouraging is that Gangnam District was the first to recognize the problem and showed efforts to improve it, for which I applaud."

Additionally, it was announced that the leave days for public officials who have served for more than 30 years will also increase from the existing 20 days to 30 days. Im expressed gratitude on behalf of the employees to the administrative director and the staff of the General Affairs Division of Gangnam District Office and added, "There are also areas where the help of Gangnam District Council members is needed."

He suggested that the budget for employee welfare be allocated so that masks regularly distributed to residents can also be provided to employees. Im concluded, "I propose regular mask distribution so that low-paid employees, who are driven to the front lines for COVID-19 personnel mobilization, do not have to worry about masks."

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