Ministry of the Interior and Safety and Ministry of Personnel Management Announce Measures to Enhance Work Concentration for Public Officials
Additional Allowances for Civil Service Officers Handling Civil Complaints Included
The government has introduced measures to expand promotion opportunities according to job duties to prevent the departure of practical-level and young public officials from public service. The ranks of national public officials at grade 6 and below will be adjusted upward based on their job content, and the scale of seniority-based promotions will also be expanded.
On the 26th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Personnel Management announced the "Measures to Create Conditions for Concentrated Work for Public Officials" containing these details. Minister Lee Sang-min of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained at a briefing that "the government has prepared measures to create conditions where public officials, who quietly perform their duties at the forefront of public life, can focus on their work without hesitation by providing appropriate preferential treatment and benefits in personnel matters."
Earlier, a public official in Gimpo City recently suffered from complaints and slander related to road repairs and took an extreme step, raising urgent calls for measures to protect complaint-handling public officials. Additionally, early retirement among public officials with less than five years of service nearly doubled from 6,663 in 2019 to 13,321 in 2022, raising concerns about government competitiveness in the global era.
Promotion Based on Work... Expanded Opportunities
First, the government decided to upgrade the ranks of about 2,000 national public officials at grade 6 and below who are on the front lines of public life. Depending on the nature and content of their work, positions held by grade 9 officials will be upgraded to grade 8, and grade 8 to grade 7, meaning appropriate ranks will be assigned according to their duties.
The target for seniority-based promotion from grade 7 to grade 6 will also be expanded from 40% to 50% of employees with more than 11 years of service. The number of review opportunities, previously limited to once a year, will be abolished. Seniority-based promotion is a system that promotes excellent public officials who have worked for a certain period even if there are no vacancies in higher ranks. In particular, public officials who have worked continuously for more than two years in the disaster safety field will have relaxed promotion appointment review requirements. They will be exempt from the candidate range (multiplicity range) application during promotion review, and the seniority promotion period will be shortened by one year.
The selection of "Daewoo Public Officials," who receive a 4.1% allowance of their monthly salary, will also increase. The government plans to shorten the selection period for Daewoo Public Officials among grade 6 and below practical-level public officials from the current five years to four years to improve treatment for long-term employees.
Furthermore, to allow outstanding local government officials to be promoted even with fewer years of service, the minimum required service period for promotion by rank will be reduced. Previously, it took 13 years to be promoted from grade 9 to grade 4, but going forward, it will be shortened to eight years, the same as for national public officials.
Expanded Leave for Low-Service Employees... Childcare Time Guaranteed
To prevent the departure of low-service public officials, the government will increase the minimum annual leave days for public officials with less than four years of service from the current minimum of 12 days to 15 days. Currently, public officials with 1 to less than 2 years of service receive 12 days, those with 2 to less than 3 years receive 14 days, and those with 3 to less than 4 years receive 15 days of minimum annual leave; these will be expanded to 15 days, 15 days, and 16 days respectively.
Childcare time, which was granted as two hours per day for 24 months to public officials raising children under five years old, will also be expanded. Going forward, childcare time will be granted as two hours per day for 36 months to public officials raising children aged 8 or younger or in the second grade or below of elementary school. For public officials with multiple children, one additional paid child care leave day will be granted starting from the third child.
To enhance autonomy in attendance management, national public officials will be able to approve their planned annual leave themselves through self-approval activation. Also, early leave or going out, which previously required submitting a reason, will be improved to allow application without a separate reason, similar to annual leave.
Special Complaints Allowance Increased by 30,000 KRW... Overtime Limit Expanded
The government will strengthen protection for public officials and establish a fair compensation system. First, considering the special nature of complaint work, public officials handling special complaints will receive an additional 30,000 KRW complaint work allowance. The government will also actively recommend awarding extra points during promotion to create favorable conditions to prevent avoidance of such work. Additionally, a task force from related agencies will prepare a fundamental comprehensive plan to protect complaint-handling public officials by next month.
For general public officials who died in the line of duty in hazardous jobs, treatment will be enhanced to allow registration as national merit recipients without the Veterans Affairs Department review process, similar to police or firefighters. A plan is also underway to allow disaster survivor benefits to be received at the promoted rank if a public official was specially promoted due to death in hazardous duty.
The overtime work limit will also be expanded to ensure fair compensation. When national public officials work overtime on weekends or holidays supporting events, the recognized overtime limit was originally 4 hours per day and 57 hours per month, but this will be expanded to 8 hours per day and 100 hours per month. Also, while overtime pay was only given when prior approval was obtained for overtime work outside the office, going forward, overtime pay will be granted even if post-approval is obtained for justifiable reasons.
Kim Seung-ho, head of the Ministry of Personnel Management, said, "We will strengthen national protection for dedicated public officials and create working conditions where they can fully demonstrate their capabilities, building a public service society where all public officials focus on their work and act centered on the people."
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