The National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended that Asiana Airlines remove arbitrary education requirements from their recruitment process.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) recently recommended that Asiana Airlines amend their recruitment process policies, which currently discriminate against candidates of certain educational backgrounds. Regarding a complaint filed in January of 2007, the Commission recommended that the representative director of the aviation company eliminate unreasonable discrimination based on education background when recruiting international crew members.
In January 2007, complainants “Do” and “Wu,” both graduates of a community college, filed a complaint against Asiana Airlines with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, stating that “Asiana Airlines requires at least a four-year college diploma for its international crew while requiring only a two-year community college diploma for its domestic crew, which is discriminatory.”
The respondent, Asiana Airlines, contended that it had adopted this policy based on a human resources strategy to differentiate itself from competitors, although the additional requirement reduces the efficiency of the company’s human resource management, including the cost of labor. The airline also argued that the tasks performed by the international crew differ from those carried out by the domestic crew, leading to different requirements in terms of foreign language competence and interpersonal skills.
The Commission found this argument to be unfounded and inconsistent. From investigation, the Commission found that:
- Asiana Airlines’ cabin crew manual, which is a job manual for employees, did not make a distinction between international and domestic lines;
- Asiana Airlines’ recruitment advertising states that international crew members are expected to ensure on-board safety and provide in-flight services on international routes, while domestic crew are expected to perform the same tasks on domestic routes; and
- Different routes might have different service procedures, entry and exit procedures and cabin announcements depending on the destination, but such variations are not deemed great enough to justify different educational requirements.
The respondent’s current procedure for the recruitment and selection of international crew members already assesses foreign language competency, physical strength, swimming ability and other basic skills required of employees. Once selected, new employees must develop their job-related capabilities and accumulate job experience as interns before becoming full-time international crew members.
In addition, the respondent failed to provide any specific explanation of the managerial gains it had obtained by imposing the requirement. On the contrary, the respondent recognized that the requirement at issue might hamper the efficiency of human resources management. The Commission concluded that it is therefore unreasonable to view the four-year college degree requirement for candidates as necessary.
Furthermore, after the Commission launched its investigation, the airline announced that it had introduced a job rotation system to give experienced domestic crew members the opportunity to work on international routes. However, the job rotation policy the respondent put in place is still in its infancy as it has yet to stipulate the number of years of experience on domestic routes required for job rotation eligibility and other procedural details. Even with the system fully in place, applicants would still be subject to discrimination in the airline’s hiring process.
The Commission believes that imposing education requirements in the recruitment and selection of international crew members represents an act of unjustifiable discrimination, in that it denies those without a four-year college degree an opportunity to apply without just cause. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has therefore recommended that the airline amend its recruitment and selection policy appropriately.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea was established in 2001, offering investigation and remedy services for Korean citizens and foreigners residing in Korea against human rights violations and discrimination. The Commission provides policy recommendations and remedial action against human rights infringements, collaborates with international human rights organizations and implements educational programs to improve the human rights culture.
