Forced a 70s Temporary Public Official to Prepare Meals
Also Took Full Charge of Cleaning Up After Meals
Complained of Difficulties but Officials Did Not Accept
It has been revealed that public officials in Cheongju City instructed a female temporary worker to perform personal tasks such as meal preparation for over 10 years, prompting the audit office to launch an investigation. The Cheongju City officials involved explained that "(the worker) never expressed refusal," which has further intensified the controversy.
On the 9th, Chungcheong Ilbo reported that Ms. A (female, in her 70s), a temporary worker in the Cultural Heritage Team of Cheongju City, had been preparing lunch for public officials working at the Munui Cultural Heritage Complex for more than 10 years. According to the recruitment notice for temporary workers supporting the operation of cultural heritage facilities in Cheongju City, Ms. A’s duties were supposed to be cleaning and maintaining the facility environment, but in reality, she had been preparing meals unrelated to her official tasks for over a decade.
Ms. A’s working hours were from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays, and it was found that she purchased ingredients before coming to work and traveled by bus to prepare lunch. It was investigated that due to the lack of nearby restaurants and the difficulty of ordering delivery or preparing lunch boxes every time, Ms. A was made to prepare lunch. She reportedly finished meal preparation before the lunch break at 11:30 a.m. and also took charge of cleaning up, including washing dishes.
Furthermore, Ms. A recently expressed difficulties with such extra work due to surgeries on her back and legs, but the public officials did not accept her complaints. After the incident was reported, the Munui Cultural Heritage Complex stopped requiring Ms. A to prepare meals.
The Cultural Heritage Team of Cheongju City, which conducted an internal investigation, stated, "Since Ms. A never expressed refusal, we are surprised by these allegations," and added, "The time spent by public officials on meal preparation was about one hour, so it did not take a long time and is unlikely to be considered 'power harassment by public officials against temporary workers.'"
A Cheongju City official bowed and said, "Regardless of the truth of the allegations, making temporary workers prepare lunch is a serious wrongdoing," and promised, "We will establish measures to prevent such incidents from happening again."
Netizens are posting a series of critical comments on the Cheongju City Citizen Participation Free Board. [Photo by Cheongju City Free Board]
Netizens who learned of this story could not hide their anger. On the Cheongju City Citizen Participation Free Bulletin Board, critical posts related to the incident have been continuously posted. Most netizens responded with comments such as "Are temporary workers supposed to cook for them by default?", "I will report this to the Ministry of Employment and Labor," "Have you stayed healthy eating that food for 10 years?", and "I feel anger at the power harassment by public officials." Currently, excessive critical posts are being deleted by administrators.
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