Ⅰ. Summary (Introduction) A sexual harassment petition case at GangNam Labor Office from Apr to Jun 2011


Incidents of sexual harassment occurred in a Korean branch office (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) of a foreign company. The female employee victimized by the sexual harassment (hereinafter, “the victim-employee”) submitted a petition to the National Human Rights Commission over the incidents. The victim-employee then informed the company of the petition she had submitted, and details within her statement to the Human Rights Commission. From this, the Company investigated the senior sales manager concerned (hereinafter, “Offender A”), estimated that his actions were sexual harassment, and then took appropriate disciplinary action against him. Shortly after, the Human Rights Commission transferred this case to the Gangnam Labor Office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor. On June 16, 2011, the Company received a written notice from the Labor Inspector in charge of sexual harassment cases, that there would be an investigative hearing. The Labor Inspector also informed the Company that there were two more alleged offenders that the victim-employee had not mentioned to the Company. After being informed of the additional alleged sexual harassment, the Company investigated the sales director (hereinafter, “Offender B”) and the country manager (hereinafter, “Offender C”), and after evaluation, determined their behaviors were also sexual harassment, based upon their statements and the victim’s, and took appropriate disciplinary actions against Offenders B and C. On June 28, 2011, the Company attended the investigative hearing at the Labor Office and explained the measures that it had taken appropriately according to related law. The Labor Inspector in charge agreed that the Company had taken the proper actions and closed the petition. However, the Labor Inspector discovered that the Company had not given any education to its employees to prevent sexual harassment at work in 2008 and 2009, but had started only in 2010. For this non-fulfillment of the Company’s legal duty to provide education on sexual harassment prevention, the Company was fined 2 million won.
According to the ‘Equal Employment and Work-Home Balance Assistance Act,’ sexual harassment at work refers to “a situation where a person’s superior or colleague harasses him/her with sexually-charged behavior or language,” and it is the employer who is responsible to prevent sexual harassment at work and take appropriate measures if such harassment occurs. I would like to review the appropriate measures taken by the Company.

Ⅱ. Details of the Sexual Harassment Case at Work
1. Sexual Harassment by Offender A

On April 27, 2011, during a team-building event at a company workshop with all employees (about 30), the victim-employee had to do something as a penalty in a game. The penalty was that she had to write her name with her backside. Before doing so, she told everybody that they couldn’t take any video with their cameras or cell phones. The sales manager (Offender A) took a video of her with his cell phone secretly, saved it, and forgot about it. On May 19, 2011, at a company dinner, Offender A remembered the video he had secretly recorded and showed the video to his colleagues in turn. The conversation among those employees was sexually humiliating for the victim-employee, and included such expressions as “It would be fun to show this as a highlight at a Sales Kick-Off event,” and “Since we can’t see her face, send her ID picture to me with the video.” The victim-employee demanded Offender A to delete the video, but Offender A did not do so. At this, the victim-employee informed the personnel team of her displeasure and requested a formal apology from him. Offender A would not offer a formal apology and simply showed his displeasure at her informing the personnel team.

2. Sexual Harassment by Offender B
On May 19, 2011, at the same company dinner, Offender B wandered around, pouring traditional wine for his colleagues. When he came to the victim-employee’s seat, he said to her, “Ms. Lee, you sat in my seat. You must like me” and sat beside her. He then said, “Shall we have a love shot?” The victim-employee was humiliated as he was suggesting that she was a “bar hostess” (a position which sometimes involves sexual behavior). The victim-employee very obviously did not like his suggestion, saying “That is a very dangerous thing to say.” To which Offender B replied, “I’m not dangerous.”
On March 29, 2011, at a company dinner, all the employees went to a Singing Room after dinner. There, while the victim-employee was singing a song by Sym Subong at someone’s request, Offender B approached the victim-employee with a gesture in blue dancing, but the victim-employee avoided looking at him. After the song was finished, she sang another song by Ju Hyunme, which talked about a ‘confession of love’ many times. When she returned to her seat, Offender B said to her, “You were talking to me. That story was about me, right?”
On February 11, 2011, at a company dinner, Offender B approached the victim-employee and said, “Let’s hug each other!” It was hard for the victim-employee to refuse in front of all her colleagues, so she patted his shoulder from a distance. The victim-employee began to wonder seriously how she could continue working with her manager (Offender B) who, without hesitation, had shown sexually-charged behavior and caused this humiliation to a married employee at a company dinner with their colleagues.

3. Sexual Harassment by Offender C

On March 29, 2011, the victim-employee was trying to get out of the company dinner because she was humiliated by Offender B’s sexual behavior, but after giving it more thought, she went to the country manager (Offender C) to say ‘good-bye’. When she said to him, “I have to go home early,” Offender C offered his hand to shake hers. Shortly after they shook hands, Offender C said goodbye again, wanted to shake hands again, and attempted to kiss her hand. Surprised, the victim-employee took her hand back quickly, but some of her fingers touched Offender C’s lips. The victim-employee was very embarrassed, shocked, and humiliated.

Ⅲ. Company Recognition of Sexual Harassment and Handling Procedures

1. Employer procedures in dealing with sexual harassment complaints

Upon receiving a complaint of sexual harassment, the employer will conduct interviews, investigate the facts, implement appropriate measures such as disciplinary punishment, etc. and then inform the victim-employee.


- 1st Stage: Receipt of the sexual harassment complaint (HR or Labor Department)
- 2nd Stage: Interview and investigation
Upon receiving the complaint, the person-in-charge is to quickly set up an interview and begin a thorough investigation. If necessary, the investigator can hear the defendant’s testimony instead by organizing a face-to-face meeting between him/her and the victim.
The person-in-charge shall weigh the collected information obtained during the investigation. As soon as the person-in-charge reaches a final conclusion, it shall be reported to the employer.
- 3rd Stage: Confirmation and disciplinary measures
If it is confirmed that sexual harassment has occurred, the employer shall take appropriate action against the offender, such as a transfer to another department or position, warning, reprimand, work suspension, or dismissal, etc.
- 4th Stage: Report of the results
Upon closing the investigation, the company shall notify the victim and the offender of the results.
- 5th Stage: Preventative action
The employer shall pay special attention to the victim-employee after the closure of the sexual harassment case to prevent further sexual harassment of that employee.


2. The Company’s handling of the above cases of sexual harassment

When it recognized the victim-employee’s accusations regarding sexual harassment, the Company immediately requested statements from the victim-employee and the alleged offenders. As the country manager (Offender C) was involved in this case, the Company used a labor attorney to interview the victim-employee and the alleged offenders and receive their statements, to ensure fair conclusions. After receiving their statements and witness accounts, the Company determined the related behaviors were sexual harassment according to the criteria for evaluating whether certain behavior is sexual harassment at work. In this process, the Company handled the investigations quickly and confidentially, in order to protect the alleged offenders and the victim-employee at the same time. The alleged offenders resisted this investigation, saying they did not intend to harass her sexually. However, the Company explained to them seriously of the criteria for determining the existence of sexual harassment, “In evaluating whether certain behavior is sexual harassment or not, the victim's subjective conditions must be considered. As a socially accepted idea, how a reasonable person evaluates or copes with a situation against the particular controversial behaviors involved must also be considered in the victim's case.” The Company concluded that the three men’s behaviors were sexual harassment and they were disciplined in accordance with the level of their violations. After this, the Company invited an external expert, (a labor attorney), and implemented training for all employees towards preventing sexual harassment at work. The Company also strove to prevent the reoccurrence of any sexual harassment by posting a notification on the bulletin board, detailing ways to prevent any further sexual harassment in the work environment.
The Company held a Disciplinary Action Committee composed of three members designated by the Company in accordance with the disciplinary regulations in the Rules of Employment, and took disciplinary action after reviewing the disciplinary details. There are five types of discipline: ① written warning, ② wage reduction, ③ suspension from work, ④ recommended resignation, and ⑤ dismissal. The Company decided the level of discipline according to the level of violation as follows.

Offender A: ① 10% wage reduction from one month’s salary;
② Suspension of promotion for six months;
③ Official apology to the victim in front of company directors

Offender B: ① Written warning;
② 2.5% wage reduction from one month’s salary (July)

Offender C: Written warning

Ⅳ. Conclusion

These cases of sexual harassment at work were related to environmental sexual harassment, and the employees recognized that their behavior at company dinners could be interpreted as sexual harassment even if they didn’t think much about it. These cases brought some educational benefit to the Company. And the employees also realized that their unintentional behavior could be interpreted as sexual harassment because the criteria for determining sexual harassment is partly judged from the victim’s perspective, rather than the offender’s intention. In addition, this case contributes to the building of healthy relationships between employees. The Company was able to protect the victim from being further humiliated, through appropriate measures against sexual harassment. The Company also took appropriate action to prevent a repeat of sexual harassment by determining acceptable discipline for the offenders, carrying that discipline out, and providing education to prevent sexual harassment of other employees.
Due to the victim-employee’s complaint of sexual harassment to the Labor Office, the Company was investigated to determine whether or not it had followed the employer procedures for handling sexual harassment complaints. The Labor Office found that the Company had carried out its duties as employer very well according to the Equal Employment Act, except for one, which was skipping its obligation for two years before setting up sexual harassment education last year. As already mentioned, the Company was fined 2 million won for two occurrences of failing to provide education to prevent sexual harassment. Beyond this, the victim-employee’s petition to the Labor Office was concluded without any further penalty or demand.