University President Who Deducted Faculty Salaries to Overcome Financial Crisis Receives Sentencing Postponement

The university president, who covered the university's finances by deducting donations in bulk from faculty and staff wages to resolve deficits amid financial difficulties, received a suspended sentence.

On the 24th, Judge Na Sang-ah of the Gwangju District Court Criminal Division 10 gave a suspended sentence with a fine of 3 million won to President A of a university located in Gwangju, who was indicted for violating the Labor Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, among other charges.

President A was indicted for deducting university donations from the wages of some employees from 2022 to 2023 before payment and for failing to pay workers' allowances and other wages.

In response, President A claimed that the donations were deducted based on a collective agreement with the labor union and that despite efforts to pay the unpaid allowances and wages, it was unavoidable due to financial difficulties.

Investigations revealed that at the time, the university carried out such actions because it needed to cover deficits and escape from being classified as a financially distressed university in order to receive government subsidies.

The court ruled that the donation deduction agreement was invalid because President A based it on an agreement with a university branch that did not have authority, rather than with the National University Labor Union.

The court also rejected President A's claim that the financial difficulties were severe and unavoidable due to external factors such as the decline in the school-age population and the suspension of government funding.

However, the court stated, "The defendant committed the offense in the process of seeking solutions to the school's financial difficulties," and "Considering that all unpaid wages and deducted donations have been returned, and that since 2019 the president has returned his salary and donated over 100 million won to the university, the sentence is suspended."

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