A Seoul Administrative Court upheld a one-month pay cut for a senior district official after finding three workplace exchanges amounted to harassment, The Korea Herald reported Sunday.
The case involved three separate interactions with employees. In one, a female employee sought annual leave to look after her child, and the official told her to rely on her husband for care. The court said the remark could discourage an employee from using annual leave for a legitimate purpose, The Korea Herald reported.
The court also reviewed an exchange during a work briefing in which the official told an employee not to continue explaining. It viewed the comment as a rebuke of the employee’s way of speaking that cut off further explanation, and concluded that the remark was outside proper workplace direction. In a separate incident, the official questioned an employee who had arrived on time about being late; the court said that could pressure the employee to arrive before official working hours.
The district office personnel committee had imposed an initial two-month pay reduction over multiple incidents. The official appealed, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government appeals review committee later reduced the penalty to one month, The Korea Herald reported, citing court documents for the disciplinary history.
In her challenge, the official said she was responding to repeated problems with employees following instructions and managing their work. She also characterized some remarks as ordinary workplace conversation. The court rejected those explanations when it assessed the exchanges in context, according to the report. The official separately argued that leave during the personnel committee’s investigation had limited her ability to defend herself. The court found no procedural irregularities in the investigation.
The court concluded that the pay reduction was not excessive, citing the public interest in preventing workplace harassment and preserving discipline in the civil service.
