Verbal Abuse and Power Harassment at Gwangju Nam-gu Community Self-Sufficiency Center Partially Uncovered in Audit

The Gwangju Nam-gu Regional Self-Sufficiency Center, which faced allegations of workplace harassment including verbal abuse and power harassment, was found to have some of these claims substantiated following an audit.

According to Nam-gu on the 12th, the district conducted an on-site audit for 15 days from May 19 to last month’s 12th, deploying five auditors to investigate complaints and suspicions from former employees about workplace harassment at the Self-Sufficiency Center.

The audit revealed that Director A forced employees to work extended hours and overtime, falsely recorded participation in business unit training, did not conduct four types of mandatory training including child abuse reporter education, and inflated the number of participants in safety training.

Regarding the director’s power harassment, the audit office explained that while there were excessive verbal abuses and derogatory remarks toward team leaders during work instructions, these were not considered severe by social standards.

Additionally, some irregularities were found such as not reflecting performance bonuses in retirement reserves and improper attendance management of center staff and business unit participants.

However, no evidence was found to support allegations that the director forced the return of performance bonuses and used them for personal purposes, and the hiring of center staff was confirmed to have been conducted legally according to operational guidelines.

Accordingly, Nam-gu identified a total of 11 issues with the center and took corrective actions including on-site corrections, notifications (disciplinary actions), warnings, and improvements.

Director A was recommended for disciplinary action due to responsibility for power harassment and related misconduct. However, Director A voluntarily resigned before the audit results were released after Nam-gu initiated the investigation.

A Nam-gu official stated, "We have also issued a 'reprimand' to the public officials who failed to thoroughly guide and supervise the Regional Self-Sufficiency Center in faithfully carrying out all related self-sufficiency business tasks," adding, "We will strictly oversee to prevent similar incidents from occurring in private consigned institutions within the district."