"Forcing an Employee on Sick Leave to Work and Negative Remarks at the Labor-Management Council Constitute Workplace Harassment"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi-do Human Rights Center has judged the actions of Team Leader B of Public Institution A in Gyeonggi-do, who pressured an employee on sick leave to come to work and made negative remarks about the labor-management council activities, thereby suppressing the activities of the labor committee members, as human rights violations, and recommended corrective measures to the head of the institution and Gyeonggi-do.

According to the Human Rights Center on the 14th, the applicant, who is the head of the labor union branch of Public Institution A in Gyeonggi-do, submitted a relief application to the Gyeonggi-do Human Rights Center on September 28, claiming that victims were suffering from workplace harassment and other human rights violations.

After directly investigating seven victims, excluding employees who did not want to be investigated due to concerns about identity exposure, and the respondent, the Human Rights Center confirmed ▲ abuse of authority violating internal guidelines ▲ denial of sick leave for employees recovering from industrial accidents ▲ negative remarks toward labor committee members of the labor-management council.

Victim C submitted a medical certificate to use sick leave, but Team Leader B did not approve it, stating that the hospital visit date could not be confirmed, and C had to visit the hospital again to obtain a certificate of outpatient treatment. According to the internal standards of Public Institution A, a medical certificate must be attached when using one-time sick leave, but Team Leader B ignored this.

Additionally, Team Leader B called another victim, D, who was recuperating at home due to an industrial accident and had been injured again, and informed them that further sick leave approval was difficult, pressuring them to come to work.

The Human Rights Center judged that the refusal to approve sick leave under the pretext of team leader authority, without considering internal regulations approved by the head of the institution, was an excessive exercise of authority.

A representative of the Human Rights Center emphasized, "This decision by the human rights officer is meaningful as it raises awareness of workplace harassment in public institutions in the province," and added, "We will actively inspect so that public institutions in the province can play a leading role in handling workplace harassment systems and human rights management."

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