Consultations to End After 20 Minutes for Malicious Complaints... Incheon Office of Education Moves to "Protect Faculty and Staff"

The Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education has amended its related ordinance to allow the limitation of civil complaint consultation times to within 20 minutes in order to protect faculty and staff from malicious complaints.

The amendment was approved at the second plenary session of the 312th temporary meeting of the Incheon City Council on July 24, 2026, and is scheduled to be promulgated on August 10, 2026.

The office introduced a new provision in the "Ordinance on the Protection and Support of Civil Complaint Handlers," stating that if a consultation (via phone call or in-person meeting) persists without a justifiable reason, the complaint handler must notify the complainant that the consultation will end after 15 minutes, and may terminate the consultation after 20 minutes have passed.

This time limitation applies only to cases involving abusive language, profanity, or repeated malicious complaints. It does not apply to standard civil complaints.

Panoramic View of Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education

With this amendment, the establishment of recommended consultation durations and termination procedures—previously provided only as guidelines or manuals under the Enforcement Decree of the Civil Complaints Handling Act—has been codified into law. The aim is to protect complaint handlers, prevent the administrative waste caused by malicious complaints, and ultimately enhance the quality of educational administrative services provided to the majority of citizens.

An official from the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "With the amendment of the ordinance, we can better protect faculty and staff from malicious complainants and concentrate administrative resources on handling legitimate civil complaints and on student education. We will continue working to foster a more mature civil complaint culture and establish a safer work environment."

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