Junggu Office Hygiene Department Staff Disciplined for Refusing Hotel Hygiene Inspection Orders... Cancellation Ruling Draws Attention

SBS reports on the March 26 ruling by the Seoul Administrative Court canceling disciplinary action related to complaints about local condominium hotels since March 2018; the Jung-gu Office instructed hygiene staff to conduct daily hotel inspections, but disciplinary measures were taken when orders were not followed; the office stated it actively responds to repeated complaints, while the team leader and officer disagreed on intervening in ongoing lawsuits, identifying this as a case of passive administration in handling related tasks.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Seoul Jung-gu Office (Mayor Seoyangho) instructed two hygiene department employees to conduct daily hygiene inspections at a local condominium-type hotel starting from March 2018, in relation to complaints about the hotel. When the employees refused, they were warned for failing to comply with the superior's orders. Recently, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled to "cancel the disciplinary action."

Seoyangho, Mayor of Jung-gu, Seoul

On the 26th at 8 o'clock news, SBS reported, "The hygiene department employees were ordered to go to the hotel daily and find any faults by any means, and the employees refused and were disciplined."

In particular, the hygiene department employees of Jung-gu Office revealed that they received instructions to "pressure the business by using the voice recordings of Mayor Seoyangho and then-Deputy Mayor Shin Sangcheol (currently Deputy Mayor of Seongbuk-gu)."

Former Jung-gu Office employee Kang revealed, "There was an order from the Deputy Mayor to go out for hygiene inspections daily, including weekends, to harass the business."

However, Kang said, "Being told to go out frequently is basically telling us to kill a certain business," and when he did not comply, he received a warning. He filed an unfair disciplinary action cancellation lawsuit, and recently the court ruled to "cancel the disciplinary action," according to reports.

In response to these reports, Jung-gu Office released a clarification statement on the afternoon of the 27th.

Jung-gu stated, "The condominium-type hotel mentioned in the article has been a significant social problem nationwide for years, with numerous victims emerging. Since March 2018, over 200 individual condominium owners of the hotel have suffered damages, and during this process, there were incidents involving organized crime groups occupying the hotel and ongoing lawsuits. The complainants continuously requested on-site inspections related to hotel operations from Jung-gu Office, which holds supervisory authority, but no on-site inspections were conducted even once."

They continued, "After the new mayor took office in July 2018, from September 11 to October 1, a total of 44 complaints were filed on the 'Requests to the Mayor' section of the district office website. On October 10, the mayor's office met with the complainants, and the district office began actively addressing the complaints."

They explained that there was a difference in opinion between the team leader and the officer in charge regarding the district office's stance to actively respond to repeated complaints and the decision not to intervene in ongoing lawsuits. This was judged as a case of passive administration during the related work process.

Furthermore, based on this, an objective review was conducted by a personnel committee (Chairman Deputy Mayor Shin Sangcheol) including external experts such as lawyers, and a mild administrative sanction of a written warning without record was issued to the responsible employees. They added, "The employees appealed the administrative sanction to the Seoul City grievance review, which dismissed the appeal. Subsequently, the employees filed an administrative lawsuit against the written warning without record, and unlike the administrative judgments of the district and Seoul City mentioned earlier, the court made a judicial decision to cancel the sanction. The district office respects and accepts this court ruling and canceled the sanction as of August 24."

They also stated that they will continue efforts to ensure that administrative and judicial judgments align more closely for more meticulous district administration during complaint handling processes.

Despite Jung-gu Office's explanation, it is also true that voices criticizing the mayor have increased following the SBS report. With the local elections less than nine months away, many evaluate that the mayor's unreasonable orders to employees were not appropriate actions.