Why Are Incheon Jung-gu Officials Filing a Class Action Lawsuit Over Commuting to Yeongjongdo?

Incheon City Conducts Two Audits of Jung-gu Office... "Violates Civil Servant Salary Regulations"
Jung-gu Officials Say "Not Fair Compared to Incheon City Hall Officials Working on Yeongjongdo"

Incheon City’s decision to require Jung-gu public officials commuting to and from Yeongjongdo, an island area, to return the toll fees they had been receiving support for has ultimately led to a legal battle.

The Jung-gu branch of the National Public Officials Labor Union Incheon Headquarters announced on the 28th that it filed a 'Lawsuit for Confirmation of Non-Existence of Debt for Toll Fee Support Refund' against Kim Jeongheon, the mayor of Jung-gu, Incheon. Among the plaintiffs, 153 out of 190 Jung-gu office employees subject to toll fee refunds participated.

They stated, "While employees working at Incheon City Hall receive a monthly allowance of 550,000 won when working in Yeongjongdo, Jung-gu employees are not even eligible for toll fee support, which is unfair," and added, "Due to Incheon City’s irresponsible audit administration, the mayor and employees are now fighting in court."

They further said, "The damages caused by the lawsuit must be borne entirely by Jung-gu employees," and "We will definitely win the lawsuit and hold Incheon City accountable."

Since May 2018, Jung-gu has been supporting toll fees for employees commuting to Yeongjongdo via Incheon Bridge, Yeongjong Bridge, and ships based on the employee welfare ordinance.

However, after auditing Jung-gu in 2019 and last year, Incheon City notified that the toll fee support amounting to over 209 million won given to employees violated the public official salary regulations and demanded its refund.

Incheon City’s position is, "Jung-gu’s own ordinance only allows support for commuting via shuttle buses, etc., so there is no legal basis to provide allowances," and "If Jung-gu wants to support toll fees, it must first revise the ordinance to establish a legal basis."

Incheon Bridge

Jung-gu claimed that toll fees were lawfully paid according to its own ordinance during the 2019 audit and only stopped the support, but after the same issue was repeatedly pointed out, it notified employees to refund the support funds. As a result, Jung-gu public officials who had received toll fee support now face having to return amounts ranging from a few thousand won to as much as 4.4 million won.

A representative of the Jung-gu branch of the public officials union stated, "The Jung-gu office building is divided into the first office in the old downtown area and the second office in Yeongjongdo, with nearly half of the employees assigned to Yeongjong," and "Employees bear a heavy burden commuting via the expensive Incheon and Yeongjong Bridges."

They added, "Jung-gu enacted an ordinance to support toll fees for employees’ welfare in the Yeongjong area, but Incheon City ruled that it violated public official salary regulations and ordered a full refund," and criticized, "They are making unfair demands on employees who must commute long distances due to personnel assignments."

The union especially stated that Incheon City’s audit disposition is an act that disregards local autonomy and an abuse of audit administration without legal grounds, and intends to settle the matter through litigation.

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