Yong Hye-in: "Revise the Customs Service Time-Selected Public Official Regulations Immediately, Which Count One Person as 0.5"

Customs Service Part-Time Officials Counted as 0.5 in Organization Chart, Reported as 54.5 Staff
Rep. Yong Hye-in: "Expecting Revision of Organization Rules to Count Part-Time Officials, Mostly Career-Interrupted Women, as 1 Instead of 0.5"
Customs Commissioner Lim Jae-hyun: "Will Consider Revising Organization Rules"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] On the 12th, Yong Hye-in, a member of the Basic Income Party, criticized the Korea Customs Service at the National Assembly audit for calculating part-time public officials as 0.5 persons in the organizational chart.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

During the Customs Service audit that day, when Rep. Yong asked, "How many part-time public officials are there?" Im Jae-hyun, the head of the Customs Service, replied, "There are 109 part-time public officials." However, according to the status of the authorized and actual number of part-time public officials submitted by the Customs Service to Rep. Yong Hye-in's office, the Customs Service calculated one natural person as 0.5 in the organizational chart, listing the authorized number as 57 and the actual number as 54.5. This is because, according to the enforcement rules of the organizational chart, part-time public officials are calculated as 0.5 persons.

Rep. Yong pointed out, "According to the organizational rules, 20 hours per week is calculated as 0.5 persons, right?" and asked, "Are there no plans to revise the organizational rules?" In response, Im, the head of the Customs Service, said, "We will consider revising the organizational rules."

She also emphasized that 88% of part-time public officials are women and that 90% of them were in their 30s and 40s with career interruptions at the time of hiring, highlighting the high demand for flexible working hours among them. She further criticized the fact that the part-time work demand survey, which was supposed to be conducted during last year's audit, was only carried out just before this year's audit.

The working hours for part-time public officials were expanded from 20 hours per week to up to 35 hours per week following the revision of the Public Officials Appointment Decree in June 2019. This created an opportunity for employees to increase their working hours upon request. However, the demands for extended working hours by part-time public officials working at the Customs Service have repeatedly been rejected. Rep. Yong pointed out that although a part-time work demand survey was planned during the 2020 audit, it was only conducted in the fifth week of September this year.

Rep. Yong said, "I hope for a revision of the organizational rules to calculate part-time public officials, most of whom are women with career interruptions, as 1 instead of 0.5, and I hope efforts will be made to improve their treatment."

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