Press Conference Held at Service General Union Meeting Room
Three Recently Dismissed Employees Explain Their Cases
KPGA: "Disciplinary Actions Unrelated to Former Executive's Coercion Incident"
The Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA) labor union has announced plans for a strong protest.
On August 19, the KPGA union held a press conference at the meeting room of the Service General Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, stating, "We will continue our fight until the unfairly dismissed employees are reinstated." Three employees who were recently notified of dismissal attended the press conference in person to explain the reasons for their dismissal and the actual circumstances. All three had testified about the abusive conduct of a former high-ranking executive, referred to as Mr. A, who was dismissed at the end of last month for workplace harassment and other reasons.
The KPGA Labor Union is holding a press conference to expose the truth behind the recent retaliatory disciplinary actions. Photo by KPGA Labor Union
The union claims that the association has recently issued a series of retaliatory disciplinary actions against employees who testified about Mr. A's abusive behavior, while the association maintains that the disciplinary actions are unrelated to Mr. A's case and were carried out through legitimate procedures. In the case of the dismissed employee, Mr. L, the union alleges that Mr. B, a sponsor company CEO who was close to Mr. A, proposed a settlement to the victimized employees. When a settlement was not reached, Mr. B allegedly threatened to raise an issue with the omission of his company’s broadcast advertisements during competitions.
Ultimately, Mr. B actually sent an official letter to the association regarding the omission of his company’s broadcast advertisements, which the union claims became the reason for the dismissal of Mr. L, who was a mid-level manager. The union pointed out, "This is a typical case of retaliation, where the association accepted external pressure from someone close to the former executive Mr. A and dismissed the victimized employee."
In the case of the dismissed employee, Ms. N, the union highlighted that the incident leading to her disciplinary action occurred in January 2023, and thus, according to the association’s administrative regulations, which state that disciplinary action cannot be requested after two years, her dismissal was in violation of these rules. As for the third dismissed employee, Mr. J, one of the reasons cited for his dismissal was the delay in processing the association president’s overseas business trip expenses. However, he argued that he could not process the expenses promptly because the president had not made a decision.
The union also criticized the association president's excessive business trip expenses, pointing out that while unpaid wages of about 60 to 70 million won had accumulated due to violations of the 52-hour workweek last year, over 60 million won was spent on the president’s three-week overseas trip. The KPGA union plans to file an application for relief from unfair dismissal with the Gyeonggi Regional Labor Relations Commission in early September. In this case, a review must be conducted within 60 days, so the first decision on whether the dismissals were unfair is expected to be announced by November at the latest.
Recently, KPGA posted a statement on its official website under the name of President Kim Wonseop, titled “Association's Position on Recent Reports Regarding the Disciplinary Committee and the Spread of False Information.” The association asserted, “The recent disciplinary actions are unrelated to the coercion incident involving the former executive and were due to serious work negligence that severely damaged the association’s operations and reputation and caused actual financial losses.”
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