62 Corporations Delete Discriminatory Questions from Job Application Forms, Further Countermeasures to Prevent Discriminatory Hiring Practices Anticipated.
After completing an analysis of employment application forms from 62 major Korean corporations that hired new staff in 2003 (58 corporations in the private sector, 4 in public services), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) asked the related enterprises to submit lists of potentially removable application-form questions that were irrelevant to either an applicant’s individual competency or related job duties. All 62 companies submitted their lists to the NHRC with an average of 11.8 questions per list.
Previously, in January 2003, the Commission had carried out a survey analyzing employment application forms from 38 small and medium-sized companies (pay roll of 50 employees or more; 34 companies in the private sector, 4 in public service) and requested that companies submit similar lists with all 38 companies complying in submitting lists (See 12 March 2003 press release.) Thus, together with the voluntary application form revisions from big business, the total number of companies deleting discriminatory questions now totals 100.
List items include the following.
- Education: name of schools attended, location of school, main campus/branch school, day/night school
- Background of Family Members: family members’ names, relationship to applicant, ages, educational level attained, names of schools attended (by family members,) current employer and job position
- Physical Appearance: height, weight, blood type, eyesight
- Disabilities: whether disabled, type of disability, stage of progression of disability
- Marital Status
- Religion
- Reasons for Military Service Exemption
- Region (within Korea) of Origin/Hometown: both place of birth and permanent residential address officially listed on the family register
- Assets: property, real estate
- Type of Housing: home ownership, rental
- Upbringing
Four corporations removed the “name of school attended” question from application forms: Lotte Data Communication Company (LDCC), Youngbo Chemical Co. Ltd., Hanjin Information Systems and Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (HIST), and the Korean Film Archive. This confirms that an applicant’s alma mater remains a critical factor in the hiring process (note: in the previous survey, only 4 out of 38 companies removed the name of school attended question: LG CNS, SK Construction, Dongyang Magic, and the Korea Land Corporation.)
Following the voluntary compliance of 100 companies with the NHRC request for removal of discriminatory questions from employment application forms, 1) the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and the five major business associations have been made aware of voluntary rectifications undertaken and will attempt to reform irrational discriminatory hiring practices among their constituent members, and 2) after opinion-gathering from related governmental organs, the business world, and academia, more comprehensive countermeasures will be planned to prevent discriminatory hiring practices.
