"Are You Married?"... 281 Cases of Illegal and Unfair Hiring Detected

Ministry of Employment Reviews Illegal and Unfair Hiring Practices
Request for Personal Information Unrelated to Job Duties

Companies that requested personal information unrelated to job duties, such as marital status, family, and educational background, on job application forms were caught. Unfair hiring practices, such as passing the cost of medical examinations for recruitment onto job seekers, were also revealed.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the results of its inspection and guidance on unfair hiring practices in the second half of last year on the 6th. After inspecting 627 sites including Worknet job postings, construction sites, and workplaces employing many young people, a total of 281 cases of illegal and unfair hiring were detected, and measures such as fines and correction recommendations were taken, the ministry said.

Reflecting young people's concerns about many illegal job postings on online employment portals, the ministry conducted its first inspection of Worknet job postings and also carried out on-site inspections of workplaces suspected of additional violations.

The main violations included requiring six-day work weeks at the time of contract despite advertising five-day work weeks, retaining dozens of rejected applicants' documents without disposal, stating in job postings that submitted documents would not be returned, requesting marital status or family educational background information on application forms, and passing medical examination and other screening costs onto job seekers.

The ministry plans to establish a system to prevent illegal postings on Worknet and implement it within this month. When employers register job advertisements, a popup will inform them of legal compliance requirements, and job seekers will be notified of new guidelines such as "prohibition of including personal information unrelated to job duties" and "procedures for returning or disposing of recruitment documents" when applying for jobs on Worknet. Additionally, job postings containing keywords related to inappropriate personal information collection will be automatically filtered.

Furthermore, the ministry will conduct focused monitoring twice a year on private employment portals and link this to on-site guidance and inspections. It also plans to collaborate with private employment portals to develop and install systems that prevent legal violations on their own.

Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, said, "We will ensure that online job postings, which have been in a legal blind spot, comply with the Hiring Procedures Act to fully protect the rights and interests of young people."