The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) determined that requiring candidates for special recruitment of government employees to indicate the schools from which they graduated on application forms or using education as a disqualifying factor for special employment constituted discrimination and a violation of the right to equality. Accordingly, the Commission recommended to the head of the Korea Food and Drug Administration that application forms be redrafted and that candidates for special employment not be disqualified based on education only. The Commission also recommended that the chairman of the Civil Service Commission revise the provisions of the Government Employee Appointment Ordinance allowing special recruitment based on education only.
In March 2006, a complainant merely known as Park (32) filed a compliant with the NHRCK, stating that “It constitutes education-based discrimination to require candidates to specify their schools on application forms for special recruitment under limited competition by the Korea Food and Drug Administration or to limit qualified candidates to those with masters or higher degrees.”
The Korea Food and Drug Administration contended, “Hiring of government officials is conducted by open competition or special employment based on limited competition according to qualification certificates or educational restrictions. For recruitment of professional workers in such specific areas as food hygiene, pharmaceuticals, medicine, and research, a system of special employment based on limited competition according to educational restrictions must be used due to the unique job requirements.” In addition, the Civil Service Commission explained that “It is a general principle to prohibit education-based discrimination in examinations for hiring of government employees. However, educational limitations may be imposed under Article 16(1)10 of the Government Employee Appointment Ordinance.”
The NHRCK determined that requiring candidates to record the names of their schools, including universities and high schools, was very likely to trigger education-based discrimination according to the ranking of universities given the common employment practices in Korean society or preferential treatment or exclusion of graduates of certain schools, or to prompt those who have employment authority or are involved in human resources management to show their prejudices for or against specific schools. Thus, the NHRCK decided that the rationales put forward by the respondents were not reasonable.
In June 2004, a provision prohibiting educational restrictions was newly inserted into the Government Employee Appointment Examination Ordinance. However, the Government Employee Appointment Ordinance still allows special employment based on educational background only. The investigation by the NHRCK has revealed that these two ordinances need to be reconciled.
Unlike the Korea Food and Drug Administration, when conducting special hiring of experts, six national institutions including the Ombudsman of Korea employ separate application processes for different types of applicants, such as those with qualification certificates, those with relevant work or research experience, and those with certain diplomas, enabling applicants to select a process suitable for them. The NHRCK deems that such practices attain the original goal of special employment whereby qualified experts are encouraged to apply for public service while the qualifications for application are not limited only by education. Given this situation, the NHRCK judged that disqualifying people without masters or higher degrees from applying to serve as government employees unduly limits their opportunities for public service.
The NHRCK recommended that the Korea Food and Drug Administration not use educational background as the only requirement for application in special employment, because there is no justifiable reason to require food-related government employee applicants to have masters or higher degrees and other means of preventing education-based discrimination seem to be available. In addition, the NHRCK recommended that the Civil Service Commission overhaul related criteria so that equal opportunity may be granted to people who have the experience and qualifications necessary to perform duties, unless certain educational backgrounds are required to carry out job duties in a normal fashion.
