An employee had an affair with someone other than his spouse, and his wife left him. He is not proud of it, but I think it is a very private matter, but the company will take disciplinary action for this. Is that legitimate?
In principle, the employer’s disciplinary authority cannot be exercised over employee misconduct in that employee’s private life if it is not directly related to the working relationship. However, disciplinary action can be legitimate if the employee’s misconduct in his or her private life is directly related to business activities or is likely to undermine the company’s social reputation. For example, there is a case where an employee engaged in illegal real estate speculation in the private sector and was disciplined because he was also employed in housing supply and management. In another case, a financial institution disciplined a worker who had committed a financial crime. These cases were recognized as legitimate disciplinary action by the court.
In addition, if the misconduct of the worker outside of work affects the personal trust or relationship with fellow workers in the business and negatively affects corporate order, then disciplinary action would be appropriate.