Employment irregularities in public organizations

In November 2018, the employment irregularity task force for public institutions was launched in Korea.¹ It conducted a full-scale survey on the employment of all 1,453 public institutions.² In addition, a reception desk for employment irregularities was opened.³ The full-scale survey revealed a total of 182 employment irregularities. Victims of employment corruption were relieved of their duties; 3,294 out of 3,313 employment corruption victims (as of December 2019) were re-employed or given another application opportunity. Plans to improve the prevention of employment irregularities, such as severe punishment for those involved and their close relatives, were announced.⁴

While these measures have been taken as part of the employment irregularity task force, continuous efforts need to be made to solve employment irregularity problems, which are widespread among public institutions. A social environment that tolerates such unfair practices can hinder anti-corruption efforts. In particular, a comprehensive solution is needed to alleviate the closed-off employment practice and the practice of requesting special consideration for job positions.

Challenges to effective commitment implementation
Temporary policies are inadequate as employment irregularities tend to happen surreptitiously. A social environment that tolerates such unfair practices hinders transparent employment efforts.

Opportunities to accelerate commitment implementation
Use the employment irregularity task force for public institutions and the reception desk for employment irregularities as well as the survey results to build a government-wide cooperation system to exclude those involved in irregularities from their work, provide grounds for removing them from their post and to strengthen management of employment-related information.

Recommendations
Adopt continuous measures to solve the employment irregularity problems, which are widespread among public institutions.

Create a comprehensive solution to alleviate the closed-off employment practice and the practice of requesting special consideration for job positions.