Supreme Court: "Unjustified Refusal of Non-Regular Public Sector Conversion Hiring... Unfair Dismissal"

The Supreme Court ruled that refusing to rehire non-regular workers without justifiable reasons, in violation of the Moon Jae-in administration's 'Public Sector Regular Employment Conversion' guidelines, constitutes unfair dismissal.

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Supreme Court's Third Division (Presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) upheld the lower court's ruling on the 15th, which dismissed the appeal filed by Korea Expressway Corporation Facility Management against the Central Labor Relations Commission's decision on unfair dismissal relief.

The court stated, "Korea Expressway Corporation established the plaintiff (Korea Expressway Corporation Facility Management), a subsidiary, in accordance with government guidelines and decided to convert workers employed by service contractors into regular employees." "In this process, the workers employed by the service contractors developed a substantial expectation of being converted to regular employees of the plaintiff."

Furthermore, the court said, "It is reasonable to consider that Mr. A had an expectation right to be converted to regular employment," and "even though Mr. A's work did not qualify as intermittent labor, the plaintiff demanded the submission of an agreement to obtain approval from the Ministry of Employment and Labor," and "the refusal to hire Mr. A was based on his rejection of working conditions that violated the Labor Standards Act, which cannot be considered a reasonable ground."

Earlier, Korea Expressway Corporation established Korea Expressway Corporation Facility Management as a subsidiary in accordance with the 'Public Sector Non-Regular Workers Regular Employment Conversion Guidelines' announced in July 2017, deciding to convert workers employed by service contractors into regular employees of the subsidiary. Korea Expressway Corporation Facility Management initiated the process of hiring 26 existing non-regular workers from service contractors as regular employees, and demanded the submission of an agreement consenting to 'intermittent working conditions,' which involve providing work sporadically with long rest periods.

Mr. A did not submit the agreement due to concerns about worsening working conditions, and Korea Expressway Corporation Facility Management refused to hire him. When the Labor Relations Commission accepted Mr. A's relief application, Korea Expressway Corporation Facility Management filed an appeal.

Both the first and second trials, as well as the Supreme Court, ruled in favor of Mr. A.

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