Dismissal of workers who illegally received in-house support...Labor Committee calls it ‘unfair dismissal’

The Labor Relations Commission ruled that if a worker committed an illegal act by mistake, it could not be considered serious misconduct.

According to the legal community on the 2nd, the Jeonnam Regional Labor Relations Commission made a decision to cite a lawsuit filed by a man in his 40s, A, in his 40s, seeking relief from unfair dismissal against transportation company B in February.

The company was also ordered to reinstate Mr. A and pay him the wages he did not receive during the period of dismissal.

Mr. A was notified of dismissal last year on the grounds that he fraudulently received approximately 20 million won in company support funds for employees assigned to non-affiliated areas.

The company claimed that Mr. A, who had been separated from his family after the appointment, received the subsidy without informing the company even though he was living with his children again.

However, Mr. A refuted that he only had the children stay at his home while sharing childcare with his spouse and that he had no intention of embezzlement.

In addition, he returned all of the illegally received money and emphasized that the punishment was excessive compared to suspensions issued in similar cases in the past.

The committee ruled in Mr. A’s favor.

“There is no objective data to show that the worker did not live with his family, so the act of illegal receipt is recognized,” the judgment said, “but there is no clearly defined standard for ‘living with family’, which is the reason for disqualification for subsidies, so it cannot be said that the workers are clearly aware of the standard.”

He continued, “It is difficult to view this as being carried out with malice as the worker may have misunderstood the criteria for the reason for the loss and judged it differently,” adding, “The entire amount of illegal benefits has been recovered, and it is inconsistent with the fairness of the disposition given in similar cases,” explaining that it is an unfair dismissal.

Lee Ki-eun, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm on Mr. A's side, said, "In order to be dismissed, the worker must have committed misconduct that would make it impossible for the employee to continue the employment relationship according to social norms. In Mr. A's case, it is difficult to say that an unlawful act of misconduct exists because he had his children stay at home for a certain period of time and took care of them."
 

Reporter Jeong Eui-jin (jej88@ikbc.co.kr)

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Dismissal of workers who illegally received in-house subsidies...Labor Commission's 'unfair dismissal' (go to)