The Ministry of Employment and Labor has drawn up a dedicated directive to protect its staff from so-called "abnormal complaints" — including verbal abuse, physical assault and repeated, groundless inquiries. The measure, the first of its kind among central government agencies, formally codifies time limits and termination standards for complaint handling and institutionalizes a support system covering psychological counseling and mental health treatment.
The ministry said Tuesday it recently gave public notice of a draft directive titled "Regulations on the Protection and Support of Complaint-Handling Staff of the Ministry of Employment and Labor." After a public comment period, the ministry plans to put the rules into effect Sept. 1.
The directive sets out criteria and support measures to protect complaint-handling staff from abnormal complaints — those involving verbal abuse, physical assault, unlawful conduct or repeated inquiries without legitimate cause. It marks the first time a central government agency has established a standalone directive for employee protection.
The most notable provision concerns time limits for handling complaints.
The directive sets a recommended ceiling of 20 minutes per phone call or in-person consultation. If a session continues without legitimate reason, staff must notify the complainant five minutes before the limit and may end the consultation once 20 minutes have elapsed. The standard had previously been applied informally through internal manuals at some regional employment offices; the new directive gives it formal legal standing.
The directive also establishes a legal basis for organizational support structures. A dedicated "abnormal-complaint employee protection unit" will be set up within the ministry's complaint operations team at headquarters, and regional offices will be permitted to form their own response teams. Affected employees will be entitled to psychological counseling, wellness programs, coverage of psychiatric treatment costs and rest leave for recovery.
The minister and heads of each bureau at headquarters are required to continuously review and implement improvements to prevent and respond to abnormal complaints. The directive explicitly obliges them to actively provide necessary support to employees who suffer harm from verbal abuse, assault or similar conduct.
The directive reflects a sustained rise in abnormal complaints directed particularly at labor inspectors. The ministry has long been exposed to verbal abuse, assault and repeat complaints given the contentious nature of its work — including wage-theft investigations and industrial safety inspections.
In fact, according to the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Hak-young, the ministry received about 118.44 million complaints from 2021 through August last year. During the same period, complainants filed 419 cases against ministry staff on charges including dereliction of duty and abuse of authority.
A recent expansion of the labor inspector workforce is also cited as a backdrop to the directive. The ministry added 2,000 labor inspectors last year and this year, and a local labor inspector system is set to be formally introduced in December under the newly enacted Labor Inspector Duties Execution Act. Local governments, including those in Gyeonggi Province, are also scheduled to hire new inspectors.
The introduction of a law criminalizing the distortion of legal duties, which took effect last March, is also identified as a factor adding to the burden on frontline civil servants. The ministry concluded that stronger employee protections were needed as the number of cases in which staff face potential liability under that law — or are sued for abuse of authority — continues to grow.
Minister Kim Young-hoon said on his SNS account Tuesday that "labor inspectors must be safe for all workers to be safe," adding that "civil servants are workers too, and someone's precious family."
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