40% Resignation Rate Among Part-Time Contracted Public Officials "Need to Integrate with Full-Time Contracted Officials"

November 11 National Assembly Forum Held
"Part-Time Hiring and Conversion Public Officials Should Be Integrated"

The National Time-Selected Public Officials Labor Union, affiliated with the Korean Federation of Public Service and Transportation Workers' Unions (KPTU), announced on the 11th that it held a "National Assembly Forum for the Integrated Operation of Time-Selected Recruitment Public Officials and Time-Selected Conversion Public Officials" at the National Assembly.

At the forum, Jeong Seong-hye, Chairperson of the Time-Selected Public Officials Labor Union, stated, "This year marks the 10th anniversary since the introduction of time-selected recruitment public officials by law," and pointed out, "As of the end of December 2022, about 3,600 time-selected recruitment public officials are working nationwide, but the rate of appointment refusal or resignation reaches 40%." She continued, "Including overtime, they work the same hours as full-time public officials, but are discriminated against in areas such as time consultation rights, calculation of promotion periods, and calculation of leave periods simply because they work fewer hours. Therefore, we held this National Assembly forum to abolish time-selected recruitment public officials and integrate their operation with time-selected conversion public officials." About 120 time-selected recruitment public officials, including Kim Hyun-jin, Chairperson of the Public Officials Labor Union Federation, attended the forum.

Assemblyman Lee Hae-sik, who attended the forum, said, "I have been working to improve the time-selected recruitment public official system for the past three years. Last year, I proposed a bill to abolish fractional quotas, and in April this year, I sponsored the National Public Officials Act and Local Public Officials Act, which include time consultation rights. I will work with other members of the Administrative Safety Committee to ensure the system is improved."

Assemblyman Oh Young-hwan emphasized, "There were various irrationalities in the time-selected recruitment public official system, such as calculating personnel by fractional points based on working hours, but I am glad that the provision for fractional point calculation has been deleted and the system is being improved. I will work together to ensure the system is improved within my term." Assemblyman Yong Hye-in said, "When I was on the Planning and Finance Committee, I established ties with the Time-Selected Public Officials Labor Union and pointed out issues regarding fractional point operations for time-selected recruitment public officials at the Korea Customs Service, which led to improvements. In the second half of the Administrative Safety Committee, I have again established ties and helped hold this National Assembly forum. Let us work together to achieve system improvements."

Professor Chae Jun-ho of Jeonbuk National University, who presented at the forum, argued, "To improve the time-selected recruitment public official system, the government needs to consider adding a priority employment clause when hiring full-time public officials or abolishing time-selected recruitment public officials and integrating them with time-selected conversion public officials. It is necessary to review expanding the working hours of time-selected recruitment public officials up to 40 hours with the involvement of the officials themselves."

Yu Jeong-eun, Head of the Gyeonggi-Incheon Branch of the Time-Selected Public Officials Labor Union, lamented, "For time-selected conversion public officials, the childcare leave period is calculated as 40 hours per week for one year per grade, so there is a significant difference of up to 48 months in promotion periods between time-selected recruitment public officials and time-selected conversion public officials, who both work 20 hours per week and are appointed at grade 9 and promoted up to grade 6. Many discriminations exist, so integration is necessary."

Kim Jeong-min, Team Leader of the Local Personnel System Division, said, "We will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Personnel Management to improve the system within the possible scope going forward."

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