An Employer’s Refusal to Grant Paid Parental Leave on Grounds of Gender Composition of Employees Is An Act of Gender-based Discrimination, NHRCK Finds
- NHRCK recommends a labor union leader to make payments to employee taking maternity leave -
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Chairperson Doo-hwan Song) presented a recommendation on July 9 2024 calling on a labor union leader to provide paid parental leave for an employee at a research institute affiliated with the labor union.
The respondent rejected the complainant’s application for paid parental leave benefits, citing the large costs that would incur if other employees apply for the same benefits in the future. According to the respondent, the research institute, which is predominantly made up of single women, does not have sufficient funds to pay all these employees when they take parental leave. The complainant submitted a complaint before the NHRCK, arguing that the refusal to grant paid leave is an act of discrimination based on gender.
The respondent stated in response to the complaint that the decision against paid leave was made in consideration of several factors. 1) The research institute operates as a separate entity from the labor union. 2) Under the institute’s remuneration policy, parental leave pay is left to the discretion of an employer. 3) The research institute has a much smaller number of employees than the labor union and thus would have to hire an additional employee to cover for a worker who is on parental leave, which should have a negative impact on its finances.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination noted that the research institute that the complainant works for cannot be seen as a body independent from the labor union considering: 1) the status of the research institute, established by the related rules, as an entity affiliated with a labor union as well as the authority given to the labor union leader over the operations of the institute; 2) the labor union leader’s oversight over the institute’s operational matters such as budgets, business plans, staff conduct and attendance, and reporting; and 3) the adoption by the research institute of the labor union’s rules relating to parental leave, with only necessary modifications.
The Committee stressed that all employees are entitled to paid leave given the nature and purpose of parental leave. It also pointed to the fact that the labor union previously made payments to a male employee who was on parental leave. Taking everything into consideration, the Committee concluded that the the respondent’s failure to provide parental leave pay to the complainant on grounds of budget constraints is an act of discrimination without reasonable cause.
The NHRCK’s decision confirms that an employer’s refusal to grant paid parental leave to an employee in an all-female organization based on the assumption that women are more likely than men to use their parental leave is an act of discrimination.
