The Police University is facing controversy after it misclassified a 5th-grade civil servant as a 6th-grade employee before suspending him. The university's president can only suspend 6th-grade employees, while the authority to suspend 5th-grade employees lies with the Commissioner of the National Police Agency.
The court ruled that the suspension was unlawful, rendering the notice of termination invalid.
According to a report by MBN, the Police University suspended Ryu, a 5th-grade industrial researcher at the National Police Agency's Security Policy Research Institute, in October 2023. The reasons cited were his failure to properly manage a subordinate's false business trip and the inappropriate use of a budget of 70 million won for laboratory assignments.
However, evidence emerged that Ryu's rank was misrepresented in the personnel documents during the suspension process. Internal documents from the Police University listed Ryu's rank as 6th-grade 'industrial researcher' instead of 5th-grade 'industrial researcher.'
The misclassification allowed the then-president of the Police University, Kim, a senior police officer, to approve Ryu's suspension.
As a result of the suspension, Ryu was excluded from the evaluation for a term extension and ultimately received a notice of termination from the Police University.
Subsequently, in December 2023, the Police University received feedback from the National Police Agency and canceled the suspension. They acknowledged that the suspension of a 5th-grade civil servant was beyond the university president's authority and explained that the rank misrepresentation was a simple mistake by the personnel staff.
Ryu contested the termination notice and filed a lawsuit, which the court ruled in his favor. In May, the Daejeon High Court stated, 'The president of the Police University does not have the authority to suspend a 5th-grade civil servant,' and deemed the suspension unlawful, thus invalidating the termination notice.
In response, the National Police Agency appealed to the Supreme Court in June under the direction of the Ministry of Justice. A police official explained that Ryu's position was set to be eliminated regardless of the suspension, which is why the evaluation for an extension was not conducted.
Meanwhile, the Police University’s Security Policy Research Institute is embroiled in another controversy after disciplining employees based on inadequate inspection data, which was halted by the court. On the 14th, the Daejeon District Court ruled that the disciplinary actions against employees who were dismissed or suspended for false business trips were unjust, as actual entry and exit records from the trip locations were verified. The disciplinary actions were based on flawed data that mixed up base station location values, and while the prosecution decided not to indict, the police maintained that there were no issues as corrections were made during the appeal process.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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