Gyeonggi-do Provides Medical Expenses and Psychological Counseling Support to Public Officials Victimized by Verbal Abuse and Assault from Complainants

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province will provide psychological counseling, compensation lawsuits, and medical expenses to civil service workers who handle civil complaints and have been subjected to verbal abuse or physical assault by complainants. Currently, five cities in the province, including Hanam and Bucheon, have enacted ordinances to support civil complaint officers, and the remaining cities and counties are preparing to enact related ordinances.

Gyeonggi Province announced that the "Ordinance on the Protection and Support of Civil Complaint Officers in Gyeonggi Province" passed the 4th plenary session of the 356th regular meeting of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council on the 13th.

This ordinance aims to support healing for officers who suffer physical and mental damage due to verbal abuse or physical assault by complainants and to protect civil complaint officers by establishing preventive measures such as expanding safety facilities.

According to the ordinance, the governor may support civil complaint officers and others handling civil complaints by providing ▲ psychological counseling ▲ medical expenses (up to 500,000 KRW) ▲ necessary rest time and rest space for healing ▲ legal consultation, criminal complaints, or compensation lawsuits ▲ education and training for workers to improve healing and response capabilities from verbal abuse and physical assault by complainants ▲ expansion of safety facilities and deployment of safety personnel to protect civil complaint officers.

The target includes public officials, public employees, and others who receive and process civil complaints under Gyeonggi Province.

Upon submitting an application form, the governor must decide on the support unless there are special reasons not to.

A provincial official stated, "With the enactment of this ordinance, a basis has been established to protect and support Gyeonggi Province's civil complaint officers from increasingly frequent and severe malicious complaints," adding, "Gyeonggi Province will continue to pay attention to ensuring that public officials can work in a safe working environment."

Meanwhile, according to the Civil Complaint Information Analysis System of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, as of the end of November, out of a total of 13,751,317 civil complaints filed through the National Complaints Portal, 5,322,707 cases (38.7%) occurred in Gyeonggi Province, which is the highest level nationwide.

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