Employees of Sungkyunkwan University fired for 'interfering in director election'... Court rules "unfair dismissal"

Seoul Administrative Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The court ruled that the dismissal of employees by Sungkyunkwan for allegedly unfairly interfering in the election of the director was an 'unfair dismissal.'

According to the legal community on the 10th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 14 (Chief Judge Lee Sanghoon) recently ruled against the plaintiff in the lawsuit filed by Sungkyunkwan against the Central Labor Commission seeking to cancel the retrial decision on unfair dismissal relief.

Previously, Sungkyunkwan dismissed three employees, including manager-level employee Mr. A, in May 2020 after the new director took office, alleging that they supported the incumbent director who ran as a candidate in the director election and engaged in illegal election campaigning.

Sungkyunkwan cited reasons for dismissal such as Mr. A's side calling delegates or meeting them in person to appeal for support for the incumbent director's election, and the use of a director-exclusive vehicle for election campaigning.

After the Central Labor Commission accepted their application for relief from unfair dismissal, Sungkyunkwan filed an appeal lawsuit in January last year.

However, the first trial of the administrative lawsuit also ruled in favor of the employees. The court judged that the testimony of the election management committee member, which was the only one supporting Sungkyunkwan's claim, was not neutral and that there was no objective or concrete evidence. The use of the exclusive vehicle was also deemed unrelated to the election in question due to timing.

Sungkyunkwan appealed the first trial ruling.

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