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Discrimination against a Foreigner in Reappointment [2003] KRNHRC 1 (1 January 2003)

The complainant filed a petition in January 2003 when he was fired by OO University.
The complainant was appointed as a full-time lecturer at OO University when he confirmed
the same duties as other full-time professors of the department concerned. He was promoted
as a full-time assistant professor through the same procedures as Korean professors. He
filed the petition when the university released him without considering the renewal of his
assistant professorship.

After investigation, the Commission found that the complainant was renewed twice as a
full-time lecturer after he was first appointed as a full-time lecturer in 1999. On April 1,
2002, he was promoted as an assistant professor through the same screening procedures as
Korean professors. In his performance evaluation, he received a score of 795, far better
than the minimum requirement of 300. However, the university notified the complainant of
dismissal from the employment for the reason of `expiration of contract' on the grounds of
Paragraph 3, Article 11 of university regulations on personnel affairs of its teaching staff,
which stipulates `When appointing a foreigner to full-time teaching staff, the term may be
non-tenured, meaning an irregular position. The contract term shall be two years'. The one
assistant professorship, which previously had been held by the complainant, was filled by
two other professors one visiting professor and one adjunct professor.

The university explained that
(1) appointment of a foreigner to a full-time professorship can be on a contract-basis according
to the regulations on personnel affairs of teaching staff;
(2) the one assistant professor was replaced with one adjunct professor and one
visiting professor in accordance with the long-term development plan of the Department of
Regional Studies on China; and
(3) the long-term development plan was finalized through confirmation procedures of
the Professor Personnel Committee.

The Commission, however, noted that
(1) the regulations on personnel affairs of teaching staff of the university stipulated
that `the posts of teaching staff shall be professor, associate professor, assistant professor,
and full-time lecturer', and that
(2) separately from the preceding provision on full-time teaching staff, the regulations provided for categorization
of non-tenure teaching staff into professor emeritus, guest professor, adjunct professor,
research professor, visiting professor (exclusively for teaching), and emeritus professor.
Under the above said classification, the university had appointed the complainant as a
full-time lecturer. If he was a member of the full-time teaching staff, he should be subject
to renewal under the Private School Act and teaching staff personnel affairs regulations of
the university. Nevertheless, the university dismissed the complainant, a member of the
full-time teaching staff, on the grounds of `expiration of contract' without implementing the
renewal deliberation procedures due to the long-term development plan of the Department
of Regional Studies on China. The Commission concluded that such act by the university
violated the right to equality.

The Commission also concluded that Paragraph 3, Article 11 of the regulations on
personnel affairs of the teaching staff of OO University may promote discrimination against
foreigners as they stipulate that the term may be a non-tenure contract only when
appointing a foreigner to full-time teaching staff, without providing for separate detailed
provisions on the duties and obligations of foreign and domestic teaching staff. In relation
to this case, OO University deleted the provisions above said. The Commission concluded,
"It is without reasonable ground to dismiss the complainant by applying provisions
voluntarily deleted by the university". The Commission recommended that the president of
OO University hold deliberations on renewal of the complainant's position as an assistant
professor.