Human Rights Commission: "Forcing resignation due to pregnancy is a violation of equality rights"... Correction recommended to the Election Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has ruled that urging or forcing resignation due to pregnancy constitutes discrimination infringing on the right to equality. On the 8th, the Commission announced that regarding the employment discrimination case based on pregnancy, it recommended that the respondent, Chairman of the A City Election Commission, prepare and implement measures to prevent recurrence, take personnel actions against related staff, and conduct education for employees to enhance gender sensitivity and prevent discrimination.

Earlier, the Commission received a complaint from Ms. B, who was accepted into the election support team recruited by the A City Election Commission. During an interview this year, she was reportedly forced to resign by the supervising guidance officer due to pregnancy, resulting in termination of employment on her first day of work. It was reported that Ms. B disclosed her pregnancy during a phone call with the guidance officer in December last year. The Election Commission claimed that considering ▲ the difficulty of performing the heavy workload of the election support team during pregnancy ▲ the overlap of the expected delivery date with the approaching June local elections making it difficult to fulfill the employment contract period ▲ the high risk of infection during work due to not receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, Ms. B voluntarily signed the resignation letter, asserting that there was no coercion to resign.

However, the Commission pointed out, "The claim that the complainant could not perform the duties due to the intensity and stress of the work during pregnancy is merely a subjective judgment," and added, "The Central Election Commission stated that pregnancy does not cause difficulties in performing election support team duties." Furthermore, it emphasized, "The judgment that fulfilling the employment period would be difficult because the complainant is expected to give birth at the end of June this year is also a premature conclusion. Even if maintaining the employment period becomes difficult due to childbirth, actively securing replacement personnel and other protective measures are the responsibilities of a state agency tasked with maternal protection."