"23 times of sexual harassment by employees" 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 dismissed A's claim and ordered him to bear all the costs of the lawsuit. A has worked at an animal hospital in Incheon since 2014 and was accused by the police of forced harassment in March 2020. The complainants were the employees who worked with Mr. A. 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 in detail and consistently." He also revealed the reason for dismissal, saying, "The vice president, who should prevent sex crimes, rather committed the offense and advised him several times to make a sincere apology (to the victims), but he did not implement it for three weeks." In response, A filed a civil lawsuit against the director, asking him to calculate the monthly salary of 4.5 million won that he had not received from the day after he was fired. In October 2020, when the civil lawsuit was underway, the prosecution indicted A on charges of forced harassment, and the first trial court found him guilty, and the appeal trial is currently continuing. In a civil trial, A claimed, "There was no reason for dismissal because he did not commit sexual harassment," adding, "The dismissal is invalid because the director did not give him a chance to explain himself." Based on the judgment of the first trial of the criminal case, the court judged that there was no problem with the dismissal process, saying that A sexually harassed female employees. "The facts recognized in the judgment of the criminal case are strong evidence in civil trials unless there are special circumstances," he said. "The fact that the plaintiff committed a sex crime was recognized in the criminal trial." He added, "This corresponds to the reason for dismissal," adding, "There is no reason to further examine the plaintiff's claim that the dismissal is invalid."

Date: 2023-01-10

Reporter: 서화목 ​