Female Employee "Working from Home" from Massage Shop... Financial Supervisory Service Issues "Reprimand"

[Image source = Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] It has been revealed that a female employee of the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) left her home during the flexible working hours period amid the COVID-19 pandemic and visited massage shops multiple times. The FSS reportedly issued a mild disciplinary action of a reprimand to the employee.

According to a report submitted by the FSS to the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 18th, Ms. A, a Grade 5 public official belonging to the Dispute Mediation Bureau, received massages three times in March and April at a Golgeun specialized skincare business located in Yeouido during the telecommuting period.

The FSS stated that Ms. A "left her telecommuting location without team leader approval three times for about two hours each time to attend to personal matters." It is known that Ms. A received massages at the massage shop for purposes such as manual therapy.

Earlier, the FSS introduced flexible working hours for 32 days from March 16 to April 29. The telecommuting operation guidelines during the COVID-19 situation reportedly included instructions to "be especially careful to prevent cases of unauthorized departure from telecommuting locations or personal business processing."

Ms. A was found to have left her workplace without managerial permission during 11 days of telecommuting. She received massages for about two hours starting from 1 p.m., which was working hours, and then performed telephone consultations and dispute resolution tasks using the FSS work computer until the end of the workday at 5 p.m. During the 18 days she came to the office, it was revealed that she did not properly adhere to the arrival times.

This fact came to light after the FSS began an inspection following the receipt of two anonymous reports through the internal whistleblowing system. The FSS considered Ms. A’s actions to be violations of employment rules and personnel management regulations, making her subject to disciplinary action.

In the action report, the FSS stated, "During the 'strengthened social distancing period' (March 16 to April 29 this year), she left her workplace and exposed herself to the risk of infection by receiving massages in an enclosed space," and added, "She performed official duties using a work computer at a general business place (massage shop), not at the FSS or telecommuting location, which posed a risk of security breaches."

However, it was also noted that "(the massage shop) visits were not only for beauty purposes but also for alleviation of conditions such as herniated discs," and thus a mild disciplinary action of reprimand was taken.

Ms. A is also known to have been criticized for her work attitude last year. The FSS reportedly expressed its intention to strengthen work discipline going forward.