Reckless Driving, Verbal Abuse, Physical Altercation by Bus Driver... Court Rules "Suspension Discipline Justified"

The court ruled that the company's suspension of a bus driver, who received numerous complaints about reckless driving, unfriendliness, and retaliatory driving, was justified.

According to the legal community on the 9th, in an administrative lawsuit filed by a city bus company in Gyeonggi-do requesting the cancellation of the Central Labor Commission's ruling that protected bus driver A, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 14 (then presided by Chief Judge Lee Sang-hoon) recently ruled in favor of the company.

The photo is unrelated to the article content. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Earlier, shortly after joining in March 2020, driver A received multiple complaints from passengers about reckless driving. He reportedly told a passenger who pointed out his slow driving, "Take a taxi," and said, "Whether I go fast or slow, you complain." There was also an incident where he ignored a pedestrian crosswalk and got into a physical altercation inside the bus with a pedestrian. He dropped passengers off on the road and abruptly accelerated before a person in their 70s could sit down, causing the elderly person to fall and get injured.

In October of that year, the company imposed a '50-day suspension' disciplinary action on driver A. A filed for relief, and the Central Labor Commission accepted it. The commission's judgment was that although the disciplinary reasons were valid, a 50-day suspension was excessive.

The company filed an administrative lawsuit requesting the cancellation of the Central Labor Commission's reconsideration ruling.

The first trial court ruled in favor of the company, stating that the suspension was not excessive.

The court pointed out, "Most of the complaints stem from reckless driving," and added, "The content includes matters that require strict disciplinary action, such as exposing passengers to the risk of serious traffic accidents."

It continued, "Although the employee wrote handwritten explanations each time complaints were received, such driving habits did not improve at all," and stated, "According to disciplinary standards, even nine complaints constitute grounds for dismissal." It also noted, "Most complaints were due to reckless driving, and despite driver A writing handwritten explanations each time, his driving habits did not improve at all."

Since the Central Labor Commission did not appeal, the first trial ruling was finalized as is.

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