"Male Employees with Military Service Appointed at Grade 5, Females at Grade 6"... Recommendation to Address Promotion Disparities

"Pay Step Differences Permissible, but Grade Disparities Are Discriminatory"

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has recommended that a non-profit corporation revise its personnel regulations after it set different entry grades for male and female employees with military service experience, resulting in disparities in promotion timing.

National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On October 1, the Commission stated that it recommended the non-profit corporation revise and enforce its personnel management regulations to ensure that employees are not disadvantaged in promotions due to a lack of military service experience.

This case originated from a complaint filed by a female employee who joined the non-profit corporation in 2022. At that time, in the process of recognizing the career experience of newly hired staff, male employees with military service experience were appointed at grade 5, pay step 12, while female employees were appointed at grade 6, pay step 10. The grade serves as the standard for distinguishing between positions and promotion levels within the organization, while the pay step determines the wage level according to work experience and similar factors. The initial grade at which an employee joins the organization can result in differences in future promotion timing.

The Commission determined that while it is permissible to reflect military service periods in pay step calculations, it is problematic to apply this to entry grades and promotions. This is because, although legal regulations allow the military service period to be recognized as work experience for determining the pay step or salary of veterans, there is no provision permitting military service experience to be factored into promotions.

The non-profit corporation changed its regulations, and starting with last year's hires, both men and women have been appointed at grade 5. If an employee has military service experience, only two additional years are granted toward their pay step. The minimum period of required service for promotion to grade 4 has also been standardized for both genders. However, the revised regulations are not retroactively applied to current employees, and the organization stated that it is working to find a solution through labor-management consultations.

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