"Seven-Year Struggle Bears Fruit"... Forced Changes to Part-Time Public Officials' Working Hours Abolished

Limitations on Unilateral Changes by Appointing Authorities

Union Vows to Continue the Fight Until the System Is Abolished

An amendment to the “Regulations on the Appointment of Public Officials,” which prevents appointing authorities from unilaterally changing the weekly working hours of part-time public officials, has come into effect. The nationwide Part-Time Public Officials Union under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (Chairwoman Jung Seonghye, hereinafter referred to as the Part-Time Union) announced on March 30 that their seven-year campaign for institutional reform bore fruit on March 27.

With this amendment, the working hours of part-time public officials can now be changed only upon the employee’s request. Previously, appointing authorities were able to alter working hours even by simply citing “personnel management needs,” which, according to the union, led to repeated abuses at the workplace.

A solo relay protest urging the guarantee of time choice in front of the Ministry of Personnel Management. Photo provided by Seonseno Union.

The Part-Time Union evaluated this measure as “not just a regulatory fix, but a turning point that shifts personnel management in the public sector from an ‘employer-centered’ to a ‘public official rights-centered’ approach.”

The issue traces back to June 2019. Jung Seonghye, Chairwoman of the Part-Time Union, explained, “The Ministry of Personnel Management established Article 95, Paragraph 4 of the ‘Regulations on the Appointment of Public Officials,’ which explicitly granted the authority to unilaterally change working hours to appointing authorities.” She added, “Since then, there have been numerous cases, such as forcing two-person team shifts, pressuring employees to submit working hours change applications, and issuing unilateral reductions in working hours before leaves of absence.” The resignation rate reached 39%, and as of the end of 2024, approximately 3,500 remained employed, meaning about 300 people had left in four years.

The union continued to demand institutional improvements through various means, including attaching the then-current number of employees, 3,809, to their bodies and holding a two-week one-person relay protest in front of the Ministry of Personnel Management in October 2021, as well as organizing meetings, National Assembly forums, and policy proposals to the presidential office.

The National Assembly also lent its support. Assemblyman Lee Hae-sik of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee (Seoul Gangdong-gu Eul) sponsored a partial amendment to the National Public Officials Act and the Local Public Officials Act on January 21, which stipulates that working hours cannot be changed without the employee’s application. Lee, as Head of the Political and Administrative Subcommittee of the National Planning Committee, was also known to have continued consultations with the Ministry of Personnel Management on institutional reform.

Assemblyman Lee stated, “It is inconsistent with the intent of the system for appointing authorities to arbitrarily change working hours, and since the reduction of working hours can impact one’s livelihood, I have continuously raised this issue since 2019. As a result, the principle that any change to weekly working hours must be based on the employee’s application has now been codified.”

The union maintains that this amendment is only the starting point for normalizing the system. Currently, part-time public officials are limited to a maximum of 35 working hours per week. The union argues that even though these employees are general public officials recruited through open or career competitive exams, institutional restrictions are causing inefficiencies in workforce utilization. As their ultimate goal, the union has proposed “expanding the weekly working hour limit to 40 hours” and “abolishing the part-time public official recruitment system.”

Kim Hwangwoo, Head of the National Headquarters of the Part-Time Union, emphasized, “If part-time public officials could work up to 40 hours per week, they would be a ready and effective workforce, equivalent to new hires. We will continue our struggle until the discriminatory system is completely abolished.”

In October 2021, Jung Sunghye, Chairperson of the Short-Time Workers' Union, is participating in a solo relay protest in front of the Ministry of Personnel Management, urging the guarantee of the right to choose working hours. Provided by the Short-Time Workers' Union.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.