[Unofficial Korean-to-English translation provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"Company Excludes Women from Promotions Again... Despite Gender Discrimination Corrective Order," 14 March 2024

A company that discriminated against female employees in promotions by using criteria that favored men received an "Employment Gender Discrimination Correction Order" from the National Labor Relations Commission, the first case to acknowledge indirect gender discrimination. However, the company excluded the complainant from promotion again after receiving the corrective order.

According to the Seoul Female Workers' Association, Cho (41), a female worker at Company A, a machinery manufacturing and sales company, was informed by the company the day before that her position would remain the same. Ms. Cho is one of two female workers who filed for relief, claiming that Company A "discriminated against female employees in promotions." The company promoted the other female worker after receiving a correction order. ...

In Company A's domestic business headquarters, all of the sales managers who conduct direct sales are male, and all of the sales support staff who do not conduct sales are female. In the first half of last year's managerial promotion review, Company A applied "sales share," which can only be accumulated through direct sales, as a promotion criterion. As a result, three out of four male candidates were promoted to management, but two female candidates in support positions were rejected. The two female employees who were rejected had higher average scores in the personnel evaluations for three years in a row and longer work experience than their male counterparts.

In January, the Labor Relations Commission recognized "indirect discrimination based on gender" and issued a corrective order to Company A's owner to conduct a promotion review again within 60 days.

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