Ihaesik Holds National Assembly Forum on Securing Work Hour Choice for Part-Time Public Officials

On the 16th at 10 AM, held in the National Assembly Members' Office Building, Meeting Room 2
Exploring ways to improve work environment and allow flexible working hours
Lee Haesik "Will lead efforts to improve treatment of time-selective public officials"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Lee Hae-sik, a member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, announced that he will hold a discussion forum titled "Securing Working Hours Sovereignty for Time-Selective Recruitment Public Officials" on the 16th at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, Meeting Room 2.

Co-hosted by Assembly members Lee Hae-sik, Lim Ho-seon, and Yong Hye-in from the Basic Income Party, this forum will address issues related to the time-selective recruitment public official system, including ▲guaranteeing full sovereignty over working hours ▲calculation of official staffing numbers ▲and legislative amendments to eliminate discrimination in working hour selection rights between converted time-selective public officials.

The time-selective recruitment public official system, introduced to keep pace with the increasingly diverse labor environment, has provided new work opportunities not only for women with career interruptions but also for workers who find full-time work difficult. From the institution's perspective, it has been a reasonable measure to supplement insufficient personnel and provide smooth administrative services to the public.

However, problems such as discrimination in work, personnel, and equipment, or lack of individual support, have been continuously raised regarding time-selective public officials, including the "fractional staffing system," which counts one time-selective public official as a decimal such as 0.5 or 0.875 instead of one full person.

Moreover, contrary to the purpose of the "time-selective" system, there are numerous issues with the system, such as the regulation that the maximum weekly working hours of 35 hours are determined not by the time-selective recruitment public official themselves but by the "appointing authority."

In response, last December, Assembly member Lee proposed a representative bill to amend the National Public Officials Act to define the quota of time-selective public officials as "the number of public officials by type and rank belonging to each institution, expressed as an integer at the institutional level." In April of this year, he also proposed the "Abolition of the Fractional Staffing System for Time-Selective Recruitment Public Officials Act," among others, to improve the treatment of time-selective recruitment public officials.

Assembly member Lee said, "I hope this forum will be a time to gather wisdom not only to improve the working environment of time-selective recruitment public officials but also to prepare institutional improvements for capacity enhancement," adding, "Along with the passage of the bills I have proposed so far, I will continue to take the lead in improving the treatment of time-selective public officials."