[2023 National Audit] Korea Water Resources Corporation, 1 in 10 Disciplinary Cases Mitigated Due to Commendations

Over the past five years, one out of every ten employees disciplined at Korea Water Resources Corporation had their disciplinary severity reduced thanks to commendations. There are concerns that commendation certificates have been reduced to a means of mitigating disciplinary actions.

According to data received by Lee Ju-hwan, a member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee from the People Power Party, from the Water Resources Corporation on the 24th, the corporation awarded a total of 3,116 commendations over the past five years (2019 to July 2023). Considering there are 6,364 regular employees, about 48.9% of all employees received commendations.

Among these, the number of commendations from the head of the institution steadily increased from 650 cases in 2019 to 733 cases last year. Commendations from the Minister of Environment also nearly doubled, rising from 43 cases in 2018, when responsibility was transferred from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to the Ministry of Environment, to 81 cases last year.

Rep. Lee explained, "The system is operated so that if an employee has worked for a certain period, they can receive at least one commendation from the head of the institution or higher, resulting in about one out of every ten employees receiving commendations every year."

Korea Water Resources Corporation Employees Participating in Blood Donation

The problem is that commendation history is being used as a means to reduce disciplinary measures when disciplinary reasons arise. This is because the internal regulations stipulate that "when deciding on disciplinary action, if there is a record of commendation from the head of the institution or minister level or higher, the discipline may be mitigated."

Looking at the disciplinary mitigation details for commendation recipients at the Water Resources Corporation, a total of 15 people received mitigation over the past five years (2019 to September 2023). Among the total 153 disciplined employees during the same period, one out of every ten had their discipline reduced due to commendations.

In 2019, a Grade 6 employee A was dismissed for violating the Public Official Election Act by participating in the Democratic Party's election campaign, failing to maintain political neutrality, but the dismissal was reduced to termination. In 2020, a Grade 2 employee B had their suspension reduced from three months to two months for "obtaining financial benefits from a related party."

Rep. Lee emphasized, "If commendations intended to boost employee morale are overused and ultimately serve as a shield against disciplinary actions, this diminishes the value of commendation certificates. Although restrictions on mitigation for cases such as improper solicitation or workplace harassment are being added, stricter standards are needed for mitigation criteria regarding assault or violations of the Public Official Election Act."

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