National Assembly Forum Held to Ensure Working Hours and Labor Rights for Part-Time Public Officials

Held on September 16 at 10 AM in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, Conference Room 2

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The National Time-Selective Public Officials Labor Union (Chairperson Jeong Seong-hye) will hold a hybrid National Assembly forum with a live YouTube video on September 16 at 10 a.m. in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, Meeting Room 2.

Hosted by National Assembly members Lee Hae-sik and Im Ho-seon of the Administration and Security Committee, and Yong Hye-in, floor leader of the Basic Income Party, the forum will address issues faced by time-selective public officials, including the guarantee of working hour sovereignty for time-selective public officials.

When the time-selective public official system was introduced in 2013, it was promoted as a system where ‘general public officials could choose and work only the hours they desired,’ suggesting that working hours could be negotiated and set with the appointing authority. Similarly, in 2015, the Ministry of Personnel Management’s promotional materials for time-selective public officials stated that ‘it is a suitable job for talents who find full-time work difficult, allowing them to select and work the hours they want.’ However, contrary to these promotions, the Public Officials Appointment Decree stipulates that ‘the appointing authority decides,’ meaning that the institution head, as the appointing authority, can change working hours at any time. This situation causes threats to livelihood due to disrupted work continuity and reduced wages.

The forum topics will cover issues related to the time-selective public official system, including ▲full guarantee of working hour sovereignty ▲calculation of staffing quotas ▲legal amendments to eliminate discrimination in working hour rights between converted time-selective public officials and others ▲improvement of the issue where one hour is uniformly deducted for overtime ▲integration of promotion lists ▲equal payment of allowances unrelated to working hours such as holiday leave pay.

Chairperson Jeong Seong-hye stated, “Although members of the Administration and Security Committee have pointed out the time-selective public official system every year during the committee’s audit, even after nine years since its introduction, the name ‘time-selective public official’ is misleading as working hours cannot be negotiated between the employee, the time-selective public official, and the employer, the appointing authority. Through this National Assembly forum, I hope it will be an opportunity to amend the Public Officials Appointment Decree so that ‘the appointing authority decides when the public official wants,’ establishing a mechanism to negotiate working hours.”

This forum is the sixth National Assembly forum hosted by the Time-Selective Public Officials Labor Union. The discussants will include ▲Presenter Professor Jin Jong-soon of Myongji University ▲Chair Professor Park Kyung-won of Seoul Women’s University ▲Kim Jin-sik, Vice Chairperson of the Time-Selective Public Officials Labor Union ▲Lee Seong-cheol, Policy Director of the Korean Federation of Trade Unions Public Officials Headquarters ▲Son Ik-chan, Lawyer at the Law Office Work and People ▲a representative from the Ministry of Personnel Management’s Personnel Innovation Planning Division ▲and a representative from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Local Personnel System Division.