National Election Commission [Newsis]
National Election Commission [Newsis]

A former National Election Commission official dismissed for misconduct — including faking sick leave to travel — lost a lawsuit seeking to overturn the disciplinary action.

The Administrative Division 2 of the Seoul Administrative Court, presided over by Chief Judge Gong Hyeon-jin, ruled against the plaintiff, identified only as A, on Thursday in a case A filed against the National Election Commission seeking to cancel the dismissal order.

A, who had served as a secretary-level official, was dismissed for being absent, late or leaving early without authorization, and for taking sick leave and official leave by entering false reasons.

The dismissal was based on findings from a Board of Audit and Inspection job-performance audit.

The Board of Audit and Inspection launched the audit after allegations of preferential hiring practices among senior National Election Commission officials surfaced in 2023, and subsequently notified A that a misconduct investigation had begun.

The audit found that A had taken unauthorized absences for personal purposes, including overseas travel, submitted false sick-leave requests, and approved his own leave applications to abandon his post.

He was also found to have submitted a fraudulent airline receipt to collect travel expense reimbursements.

A filed a lawsuit last August contesting the dismissal, arguing that the Board of Audit and Inspection's job-performance audit was unlawful and that the disciplinary action was therefore also invalid.

A based his argument on a Constitutional Court ruling from February of that year, in which the court found that the National Election Commission was not subject to the Board of Audit and Inspection's job-performance audit authority.

The court rejected A's argument.

It held that even if the Constitutional Court subsequently determined that the Board of Audit and Inspection lacked authority to audit the National Election Commission's job performance, the findings of an audit already completed before that ruling could still be used as a basis for establishing facts.

The court said that "whether the Board of Audit and Inspection could conduct a job-performance audit of the National Election Commission and its civil servants was not clear prior to the ruling in this case," and went on to say that "the fact that the audit authority was retroactively found to be absent cannot, by itself, render a completed audit an administrative investigation conducted without authority."

The court also found no procedural defect in the National Election Commission's use of the audit findings as disciplinary material, and said A's misconduct was sufficiently established by objective evidence.

A's claim that the National Election Commission had abused or exceeded its discretionary authority was also rejected.

The court noted that A's three-day unauthorized absence and overseas trip occurred "at a time when lax workplace discipline and hiring irregularity allegations at the National Election Commission were drawing public criticism and the Board of Audit and Inspection had just launched its audit." It added that it was "doubtful whether the plaintiff had any intention of observing even the minimum standards of conduct expected of a civil servant."

The court also found that the dismissal fell within the applicable disciplinary guidelines, citing the extended duration of the misconduct — including 253 days of self-approved false sick leave — and A's own statements regarding the conduct.


husn7@heraldcorp.com