Eight out of Ten Administrative and Public Institutions Shift Pre-Employment Medical Examination Fees to Job Seekers

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission to Promote Replacement Using Nationwide General Health Checkup Results

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been revealed that 8 out of 10 administrative and public institutions, including central administrative agencies and metropolitan local governments, are ignoring the Employment Procedure Act and making job seekers bear the cost of pre-employment medical examinations.

According to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission on the 7th, a survey conducted in April targeting 309 institutions including central administrative agencies, metropolitan local governments, education offices, and public institutions found that 289 institutions, accounting for 93.5%, require submission of medical examination reports when hiring public service workers or fixed-term employees. In particular, 246 institutions, or 79.6% of the total, require job seekers to bear the cost of the medical examination.

By institution, 34 out of 48 central administrative agencies (70.8%) and 16 out of 17 metropolitan local governments (94.1%) required job seekers to pay for medical examinations. All 17 education offices and 179 out of 227 public institutions (78.8%) required medical examinations for hiring and passed the cost onto job seekers. Under current law, only national and local government public officials are obligated to submit medical examination reports.

When administrative or public institutions hire public service workers or fixed-term employees, they may request medical examination reports, but the cost must be borne by the institution. Nevertheless, these institutions ignored the regulations and made job seekers pay 30,000 to 50,000 KRW to obtain and submit medical examination reports before hiring.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission noted that although the regulation on "health checkups at hiring" was abolished in 2005, institutions continue to require medical examination reports out of custom. Therefore, in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Service, they are promoting a plan to replace medical examination reports with the general health checkup results that all citizens receive every two years. Since the test items are similar, this approach has high utility and can reduce the burden on both institutions and job seekers.

The Commission is collecting public opinions through the national participation platform "Gukmin Saenggakham" from today until the 20th.