Supreme Court: "Doctors at Cooperative Hospitals Are Also Faculty Members, Granting Status Is Justified"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that if a university hospital formally hires doctors working at external affiliated hospitals as medical school professors through proper procedures, they should be recognized as faculty members.

On the 3rd, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) announced that it upheld the lower court's ruling in favor of the plaintiffs in the appeal case filed by five university foundations operating medical schools against the Private School Teachers' Pension Corporation (Sahak Yeongeum) regarding the return of unjust enrichment.

The controversy began after the Board of Audit and Inspection conducted an audit on university tuition management in 2011 and reported that private school corporations, including the plaintiffs operating medical schools, had increased the national burden on the Private School Teachers' Pension by granting faculty status to doctors working at affiliated hospitals as a customary practice.

In response, Sahak Yeongeum sought to recover the national burden funds, and the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit demanding the return of the money. Both sides disputed whether doctors at affiliated hospitals qualify as 'faculty members' under the Private School Act. Contrary to the audit results, the court ruled that doctors providing medical services at affiliated hospitals should also be regarded as faculty members under the Private School Act, and the foundations are not required to return the national burden funds.

The first trial court stated, "Even if faculty members working at affiliated hospitals spend a significant portion of their working hours on medical duties, once they are appointed as medical school faculty members through the appointment procedures stipulated by the Private School Act, they hold the status of faculty members under the Private School Act." It also noted that the fact that doctors working at affiliated hospitals have fewer teaching hours than faculty members at general universities does not mean they neglected student education. It is known that doctors at affiliated hospitals took on a substantial part of medical school education duties, such as supervising student presentations after their hospital work.

The second trial court's judgment was no different. Sahak Yeongeum filed an appeal, but the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, stating, "There is no error affecting the judgment such as misunderstanding the substance of full-time private school faculty, the effect of faculty appointment contracts, the establishment of claims for damages based on unlawful acts, or the legal principle of faculty status by law."

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