Part of rotational work? Court rules "Unnecessary transfer from branch manager to team leader is unfair"

Seoul Administrative Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A court ruling has found that a financial company's personnel transfer, which sent a branch manager with outstanding performance to another branch as a loan team leader under the pretext of rotational duty, was unfair.

According to the court on the 2nd, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 13 (Presiding Judge Park Jeongdae) ruled against the plaintiff in the first trial of the lawsuit filed by a second-tier financial company against the Central Labor Commission seeking cancellation of the unfair transfer relief reconsideration decision.

Earlier, employee A was transferred from being a branch manager for over two years as of October 2020 to a loan team leader at another branch. Unlike the management duties previously performed, the loan team leader had to handle loan tasks at the counter directly with customers without any team members.

A filed a relief application with the Labor Commission, which recognized the transfer as "unfair." The company disagreed and filed an administrative lawsuit.

During the trial, the company argued, "To resolve personnel stagnation, all employees, regardless of position or ability, must handle both loan and deposit tasks," claiming that the personnel transfer was part of rotational duty.

However, the first trial court did not accept this argument, stating it was "an unusual personnel order imposing disadvantages." The court noted, "Three other deputy managers in the same position as A were indicted for embezzlement and breach of trust and could have been subject to suspension, yet they either retained their branch manager positions or were newly appointed as branch managers during the same period," adding, "A significantly improved the evaluation of the branch during their tenure as branch manager."

The court further pointed out, "Even if the necessity of rotational duty is acknowledged, there is no reasonable reason to assign A specifically as the branch loan team leader," noting, "Since 2007, A has left loan and deposit practical work and has been engaged in management tasks such as working in the head office general affairs team, as audit director, and as branch manager since 2008." It also added, "It is questionable whether it is efficient to assign loan tasks to such a person."

The fact that among the five branches subject to comprehensive evaluation in 2018, the lowest-ranked branch assigned to A rose to second place in 2019 and first place in 2020, as well as the living disadvantages such as not receiving vehicle maintenance expenses or allowances that were given during A's tenure as branch manager, were also grounds for the judgment. The company appealed the first trial ruling.