A court has ruled that the dismissal of a former official’s daughter from her position at the National Election Commission (NEC) was unlawful. The ruling addresses allegations of preferential treatment in hiring, often termed ‘nepotism,’ which had surrounded the appointment of Park Mo, the daughter of former NEC Secretary-General Park Chan-jin.
Court Ruling on Dismissal
The Seoul Administrative Court’s Administrative Division 12, presided over by Judge Kang Jae-won, overturned the NEC’s decision to dismiss Park Mo on July 10th. The court found that while procedural irregularities may have occurred during the hiring process, there was insufficient evidence to prove that these actions constituted undue influence aimed at securing Park’s employment. Park Mo had been hired in 2022 for a Grade 9 position in the Jeonnam Election Commission’s competitive recruitment and was subsequently promoted to Grade 7 in 2024.
Background of the Controversy
The case gained public attention due to accusations of preferential hiring practices for the children of high-ranking NEC officials. An audit conducted by the NEC’s Board of Audit and Inspection in February of the previous year revealed irregularities in the hiring process, including the arbitrary creation of interview score sheets. Following these findings, former Secretary-General Park Chan-jin resigned voluntarily before the audit results were officially released.
Audit Findings and Irregularities
According to the audit, the Jeonnam Election Commission had provided interviewers with a roster that separately listed the birthdates and ages of five candidates over the age of 35. Interviewers were given this roster along with a blank score sheet and a list of six successful candidates, whose rankings were to be determined. The interviewers submitted their scores, leaving the average score blank. The HR manager then filled in the average score column arbitrarily and assigned rankings to the six successful candidates based on the provided list.
The audit report indicated that the HR manager had filled in the ‘top, middle, bottom’ categories for the average scores at their discretion. The NEC subsequently used these audit findings as grounds to dismiss Park Mo in April of the previous year. Additional reasons cited for her dismissal included her father’s position as Deputy Secretary-General of the NEC at the time of her hiring, which could have influenced recruitment and personnel matters, and his direct approval of her preliminary appointment letter in February 2022.
The extension of the application submission period, originally set to end on January 25, 2022, and extended to February 4, 2022, was also questioned.
Court’s Rebuttal of Dismissal Justification
Despite these points, the administrative court determined that the audit report alone did not provide sufficient grounds for Park Mo’s dismissal. The court noted that while the interviewers could have been aware of the candidates’ ages and affiliations prior to the interview, and that Park Mo and another candidate were selected despite no specific mention of age on the roster, it was not investigated whether the interviewers’ evaluations were actually reflected in the final scores. Furthermore, it remained unconfirmed whether the average scores recorded by the HR manager differed from the interviewers’ actual evaluations.
Lack of Evidence for Undue Influence
The court also found that there was no evidence to substantiate claims that former Secretary-General Park Chan-jin exerted undue influence to secure his daughter’s hiring. The court stated that there was insufficient proof that he influenced the competitive recruitment process, which included his daughter, or the general hiring procedures of the NEC while he was in office. There was also a lack of direct or indirect evidence that he instructed or directed office staff and interviewers to engage in any misconduct.
Questioning the Application Period Extension
Regarding the extension of the application submission period, the court found it difficult to justify Park Mo’s dismissal based on this factor alone. This was because Park Mo had submitted her application on the morning of January 25, 2022, before the extension took effect. The court expressed bewilderment as to how the extension of the application period, in relation to the initial announcement, compromised the fairness and credibility of the hiring process.
The court concluded that even if all procedural irregularities in administrative processing were acknowledged, it would be difficult to recognize a compelling public interest that specifically necessitated the dismissal of Park Mo’s employment. The court stated that the alleged, but unproven, misconduct did not present a sufficiently strong public interest to justify the detriment to Park Mo’s reputation.
Precedent in Similar Cases
This ruling follows a similar case in July of the previous year where the daughter of a former senior NEC official also won an appeal against her dismissal. In that instance, the court also cited a lack of confirmed undue influence by the parent official in the hiring process as grounds for overturning the dismissal.
The court’s decisions in both cases emphasize the requirement for concrete evidence of wrongdoing or undue influence before employment can be terminated, particularly when allegations of nepotism are involved.
