Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service Awards 850 Million Won in Gift Certificates to Employees... "Indirect Wage Increase"

Violation of Budget Execution Guidelines in Public Institutions

The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service was found to have improperly paid gift certificates worth 850 million won to its employees.

According to the results of the regular audit of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service by the Board of Audit and Inspection on the 5th, the Service was caught reporting its management performance while omitting the costs paid to employees, such as the amount paid in gift certificates and snack expenses.

According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, in December 2020, the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service distributed Onnuri gift certificates worth a total of 855.5 million won, giving 100,000 won per person to all 8,555 employees.

At that time, the labor union of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service demanded the distribution of gift certificates during wage negotiations, citing "boosting employee morale" as the reason, and the Service accepted the union's request.

The Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out that by providing gift certificates in addition to the negotiated wages, it can be seen as effectively increasing wages.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This action violates the budget execution guidelines for public institutions. According to the guidelines, public institutions must not indirectly increase salaries by distributing gift certificates to employees in bulk or by similar means.

In addition, from 2016 to 2021, the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service additionally spent a total of 7 billion won on labor costs, including 4.8 billion won for hospital medical expenses and 1.3 billion won for nighttime snack expenses.

However, the Service prepared management performance reports while omitting these labor cost expenditures, and as a result, it was confirmed that the total labor cost increase rate was calculated inaccurately.

Furthermore, the Board of Audit and Inspection requested disciplinary action and warnings respectively for two officials responsible for causing approximately 54 million won in damage to the national treasury due to negligence in debt collection duties.

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