Gyeonggi-do Human Rights Center Recommends Disciplinary Action for Family Counseling Center Director Over Employee Verbal Abuse and Holiday Gift Coercion

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi-do Human Rights Center judged that the director of A Family Counseling Center, who verbally abused employees, forced holiday gifts, and signed one-year labor contracts after regular employment, committed human rights violations constituting workplace harassment, and recommended disciplinary action to the corporation.

The Human Rights Center received reports that B, who works as a counselor at A Family Counseling Center in the province, and other employees were subjected to personal insults such as verbal abuse, swearing, criticism, and slander by the director during work, belittlement of their core duties, discrimination against other employees, forced holiday gifts, and unfair treatment such as signing one-year labor contracts despite being regular employees at the director’s request.

Accordingly, the Human Rights Center conducted an investigation involving B and other employees, the director, the corporation’s CEO, audio recordings, and related documents. Subsequently, on the 27th of last month, a meeting of the Human Rights Protection Committee was held, concluding that the acts constituted human rights violations under Article 10 of the Constitution guaranteeing personal dignity and workplace harassment as defined in Article 76-2 of the Labor Standards Act.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the director ▲ spoke ill of other employees in their absence, ▲ demanded holiday gifts while boasting that other counseling center directors received gifts but claiming he had nothing to boast about, and ▲ embezzled part of the salaries of current and former counselors for three months, contrary to the labor contract.

The Human Rights Center also confirmed that the director’s work log was falsified and secured concrete evidence related to the counseling center’s operational corruption, including copies of the family counseling center’s bankbook, expenditure approval documents, payroll ledgers, audio files, and messenger conversations.

A representative of the Human Rights Center stated, "The decision by the Human Rights Protection Committee is significant in raising awareness that acts such as verbal abuse, forced holiday gifts, and threats of dismissal in the workplace constitute human rights violations," adding, "We will monitor the corrective measures taken by the family counseling center to ensure the protection of employees’ human rights."

Anyone can apply for consultation or relief at the Gyeonggi-do Human Rights Center regarding human rights violations and discriminatory acts occurring in the province, its subordinate administrative agencies, public institutions funded or established by the province, entrusted agencies, organizations receiving provincial support, and various social welfare facilities. Third parties who are not the affected individuals may also apply.

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