2008.10.02
Upon the NHRCK's determination that City A's selecting candidates for liquidation system in 2007 was in violation of human rights, the Commission recommended that the Mayor of City A and the Minister of Public Administration and Security prevent the recurrence of similar cases.
The Korean Federation of the Public Service Workers Union made an appeal to the Commission on the basis that City A forcibly allocated 3 percent of candidates for liquidation in each department without reasonable criteria and forced wrongful labor upon workers.
With regard to the selection process and criteria, the Commission recognizes City A’s attempts to improve competitiveness amongst public servants and offer public service through personnel reforms and the Commission does not question the selection of public servants to be liquidated. However, the Constitutional government should select these candidates through objective criteria and should uphold due process rights to ensure dignity, honor, freedom and equal rights of the concerned public servants.
Upon the Commission's investigation, City A set up standards for the selection based on 'persons who are indolent and negligent of their duties, persons who damage the dignity or image of others, and persons who are not service-minded, etc' and it made each department submit lists of 3 percent of those who were indicated by the criteria within 10 days. Among those who were selected, under criterion different from those of the original system, most of them were persons with disabilities or illness or persons close to retirement, and 24 officials were in positions higher than ‘Assistant Director.’
When a local government transfers public servants who are in positions higher than Assistant Director, the 'Local Public Service Law' and 'Local Official Employment Regulations' require that it obtain approval from a personnel committee regarding the criterion; it should upload a notice on its webpage. City A did not follow these regulations.
The Commission confirmed that the criterion set by City A was abstract and subjective and the selection process was not based on the 'Local Public Service Law,' which stipulates that the employment of public servants be based on the their work abilities.
Without any prior notice, due process, or objective selection criteria, City A made each department director submit a list of disqualified officials for the establishment of field correction groups in 2007. Furthermore, selected public servants from the inappropriate process were made known to the public; this infringed their human worth and dignity.
Furthermore, regarding the management of the group, members performed non-obligatory educational training. Thus, they were excluded from work during the training and victims were humiliated by training programs. This violates Article 15 (All citizens shall enjoy freedom of occupation) and Article 10 (All citizens shall be assured of human worth and dignity and have the right to pursue happiness) of the Constitution.
The Commission confirmed that the majority of the selection processes and education programs in 2008 have been improved compared to those in 2007. However, concerning recurrence prevention of similar cases, the Commission recommended that the Mayor of City A and the Minister of Public Administration and Security take preventive measures not to violate the human rights of public servants through personnel management.
