Legal world: “Individual resignation without collusion cannot be punished”

There is no standard for judging individual resignation or collective resignation... Proving collective action is not easy

While the public resignation of an intern at a local hospital sparked a movement among fellow doctors who are increasingly cautious, the government issued a threat that in the current situation, even individual resignations could be viewed as collective resignations.

However, the legal community points out that it is virtually impossible to regard individual resignations as collective resignations unless clear evidence of collusion is presented, and that this is a form of intimidation aimed at preventing individual resignations.

Park Min-soo, Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, said at a briefing for the ‘Doctors’ Collective Action Central Accident Control Headquarters’ held at the Seoul Government Complex on the 14th, “Any reason for a resignation letter that deviates from the norm is a sign of protest against government policy.” He added, “Even if it is individual, it can be seen as a collective resignation letter if it has been discussed with colleagues in advance.”

He continued, “When receiving a resignation letter from an individual hospital, the reasons must be closely examined through consultation, and if it is not an individual reason, you must follow the government’s ban on accepting collective resignation letters,” he said, adding, “We are checking the status of each individual hospital and major hospitals one by one.”

Vice Minister Park's remarks came as some medical residents have recently shown individual moves to resign under government pressure.

The day before, an intern at Daejeon St. Mary's Hospital publicly announced his intention to resign on YouTube, saying, “I am resigning for personal reasons.”

In this regard,Attorney Daeryun C of the law firm said, “Without clear evidence of prior collusion, it is impossible to punish individual resignations alone.”

He went on to explain, “The individual resignations submitted by residents to each hospital cannot be collectively considered a collective resignation. When individual resignations occur in succession, there is no standard as to how many resignations will be considered individual resignations and how many will be considered collective resignations.”

In response to the government's position to determine the reason for the resignation, he said, "Resignations are made for personal conscience or individual reasons, so it is virtually impossible to judge them as collective resignations."

However, it could become a problem if circumstances or evidence of collusion by medical groups or hospitals emerge.

Attorney C said, “If there is evidence of collusion in medical resident groups or hospital meetings, such as ‘Let’s resign individually and make it look like a group action,’ there is room for it to be seen as a group action.”

In response to the claim that the government may regard residents' failure to renew their contracts as a collective action, Attorney C pointed out, "Contract extensions must follow the principle of freedom of contract between hospitals and affiliated doctors. It is questionable whether the government can prove that individual failure to extend contracts is a collective action if there is no evidence of collusion."

He added, “It is difficult for the government to stop residents if they individually resign or do not renew their contracts, so I think this is a threat born out of misfortune.”

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