Employee Fired for Unauthorized Removal of 'Mug Cup·Calendar'... Court Rules "Unfair Dismissal"

"Delay in Presentation, but No Major Impact on the Company"

A first-instance ruling found that the dismissal of an employee who took a set of mugs and a calendar intended as customer gifts without permission from an imported car dealer was an unfair dismissal.

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According to the legal community on the 13th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 3 (Presiding Judge Choi Su-jin) ruled against Autostadt Co., Ltd. in its lawsuit seeking to cancel the reconsideration decision of the Central Labor Commission chairman regarding unfair dismissal relief. The court upheld the Central Labor Commission's judgment that Autostadt's dismissal of employee A last year was unfair.

The court stated, "Among the disciplinary reasons for employee A, the unauthorized removal of the mug set is a legitimate cause for discipline," but added, "Since it does not constitute theft under criminal law, the theft charge cannot be used as a disciplinary reason, and since employee A removed the calendar after notifying the service advisor, the unauthorized removal of the calendar is not recognized as a legitimate disciplinary reason."

It continued, "Although employee A did remove five mug sets without permission, each mug is approximately 20,000 won in value, which is not considered relatively significant in terms of property value," and explained, "Employee A gave two of the five mug sets to customers as gifts, and the remaining three were held to be given to customers but were returned to the company. Considering this, it is judged that employee A did not intend to use the five mug sets for personal purposes."

Furthermore, "Although the unauthorized removal of the mug sets by employee A delayed the presentation of the mug sets to customers who had received perfect customer satisfaction scores by about a month, it appears that this did not cause significant disruption to the company's business operations," the court added.

The court ruled, "The unauthorized removal of the mug sets alone does not constitute a reason for which employee A can be held responsible to the extent that the employment relationship cannot be continued according to social norms," and stated, "Nevertheless, the company's dismissal of employee A constitutes an abuse of discretion."

It also pointed out, "The calendar appears to have been stored in the pantry to be widely distributed to general customers. It is unclear whether the company strictly managed calendar removals on a regular basis," and noted, "It is difficult to evaluate such actions as completely disregarding the company's reporting and command system."

Previously, Autostadt notified employee A of dismissal in February last year, citing reasons including unauthorized removal (theft) of five mug sets and one calendar intended as customer gifts, causing disruption to company operations and property loss, and ignoring instructions while excluded from customer service duties, thereby disregarding the reporting and command system. Immediately after the dismissal, employee A filed an unfair dismissal relief application with the local labor commission. The local labor commission accepted the relief application, ruling all three disciplinary reasons as unfair. Autostadt appealed to the Central Labor Commission, but the commission recognized only the unauthorized removal of the mugs as a legitimate disciplinary reason, dismissed the other reasons as unfair, and deemed the disciplinary measures excessive.