"Employee sexual harassment 23 times" Deputy Director of Animal Hospital

A former deputy director of an animal hospital, who is on trial for sexually harassing employees several times, filed a civil suit, saying the dismissal was unfair, but lost. According to multiple media reports, the Incheon District Court's Civil Affairs Department 11 (Chief Judge Chung Chang-geun) said on the 11th that the former vice president of an animal hospital in Incheon ruled against the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the director. The court rejected A's claim and ordered him to bear all the costs of the lawsuit. A has been working at an animal hospital in Incheon since 2014, and was accused by the police of forced harassment in March 2020. The complainants were employees who worked with A, and about 20 days after the complaint, the hospital director notified A of the dismissal, saying, "The actions against female employees were repeated enough to worsen the employment environment, and several female employees complained of damage." He also said, "The vice president, who should prevent sex crimes, has advised him several times to commit the crime and make a sincere apology (to the victims), but he did not fulfill it for three weeks." In response, A filed a civil lawsuit against the director, asking him to calculate the salary of 4.5 million won he had not received since the day after his dismissal. The prosecution indicted A on charges of forced harassment in October 2020, when a civil suit was underway, and the first trial court pleaded guilty and an appeal is currently underway. In a civil trial, A claimed, "There was no reason for dismissal because he did not commit sexual harassment," adding, "The dismissal was invalid because the director did not give him a chance to explain himself." The court judged that there was no problem with the dismissal process. "The facts recognized in the criminal case ruling are strong evidence in civil trials unless there are special circumstances," he said. "The fact that the plaintiff committed a sex crime was admitted in a criminal trial," he said. "This is a reason for dismissal," he added. "There is no reason to further consider the plaintiff's claim that the dismissal is invalid."

Date: 2023-03-31

Reporter: 정새울