Public Corporation Employee Living in Company Housing Buys a House... Numerous Violations Found in Compliance Inspection

Detected Through Internal Audit
Many Committed Knowing It

It was revealed through an internal audit that some employees of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) received additional points by claiming "to live with their family" and moved into a three-bedroom, 25-pyeong (approximately 82㎡ exclusive area) 'family-type large company housing,' but in reality lived alone or continued to use the company housing despite purchasing a house nearby. The relevant nuclear power headquarters had not conducted a survey to identify ineligible residents for years and was unaware of these facts until this audit. This indicates a loophole in KHNP's company housing management.

According to Alio, a public institution management information disclosure system, KHNP recently disclosed the results of a special audit containing these details. The KHNP Audit Office conducted an investigation from May 22 to June 2 this year targeting a nuclear power headquarters, examining overall company housing matters including housing allocation and occupancy management, housing equipment operation, and vacant company housing facility management.

The investigation confirmed deficiencies in the headquarters' related regulations and violations exploiting these gaps. According to the housing operation internal rules of the headquarters, company housing occupancy is based on the principle of living together with the employee and their spouse's immediate family. However, Employee A applied for occupancy of a family-type large company housing claiming that the spouse and immediate family would live together, but the investigation found that only one person was actually residing in the large housing unit. The Audit Office instructed that employees living alone in family-type large company housing be relocated to studio-type housing or single-assignment dormitories.

Cases were also uncovered where employees owned houses nearby or purchased houses in nearby areas after moving into company housing but did not vacate the housing. According to the housing operation internal rules, occupancy is restricted if the employee or spouse owns a house near the headquarters. Housing allocation is only possible if the owned house meets both the shortest and optimal distance criteria from the workplace, but some employees moved into company housing based solely on the 'shortest distance being below the standard.' The KHNP Audit Office directed that the definition of 'nearby area' be specified at the level of specific towns, townships, and neighborhoods to prevent confusion and misuse by applicants.

The KHNP Audit Office pointed out, "Upon reviewing the statements submitted by the violators, many knowingly violated the rules," and added, "Due to employees violating the obligations specified in the housing-related regulations, non-affiliated employees waiting for company housing are suffering disadvantages."

The inappropriate cases occurred because the nuclear power headquarters did not conduct surveys for a long time. KHNP regulates through welfare management regulations and company housing manuals that each headquarters operating company housing should manage overall housing operations independently. However, the housing operation rules of the relevant headquarters only stated that "surveys to identify ineligible residents may be conducted," making it non-mandatory. As a result, the headquarters did not conduct such surveys for years. The KHNP Audit Office has mandated the establishment of compulsory regulations for housing management status inspections in the headquarters' housing operation internal rules. Additionally, to address difficulties in verifying actual residence due to employees not updating their addresses after moving into company housing, a mandatory address registration clause will be introduced.

A KHNP official said, "This audit aims to correct improper work practices in company housing operation and management and to derive improvements to enhance the welfare of company housing residents," adding, "We plan to complete follow-up measures on the violations identified through the internal audit by early next month."

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