Local Municipalities in Gyeonggi Province Embrace 'Civil Service Dismissal System'

The trend of introducing a 'civil service dismissal system' is spreading across local municipalities in Gyeonggi Province.

On the 20th, the province announced, "Among the 31 municipalities across the province, 5 to 6 are either adopting or reviewing the nationwide civil servant dismissal system targeting incompetent employees."

Starting from the 20th, Seongnam City has launched a 'job performance improvement program' that assigns civil servants ranking in the bottom 10% in personnel evaluations and employees deemed unfit for their duties to field departments such as illegal parking enforcement units for one year. Decisions on job reassignment, position suspension, or dismissal will then be made based on their performance during this period.

Prior to this, Bucheon City already implemented a 'personnel pool system' last year that disregards bureaucratic hierarchy and assigns positions based on ability, resulting in 1 dismissal and 8 non-post assignments.

Uiwang City also announced last month that it would select and operate a 'City Affairs Support Team' for field work, targeting civil servants frequently criticized by citizens or labeled as incompetent within the organization.

Gwacheon City also announced plans to devise measures for dismissing incompetent, negligent, or corrupt civil servants by the end of this month, with implementation to begin next month.

Additionally, Icheon City is researching the case of Ulsan City, which first introduced the civil service dismissal system, to develop 'personnel system innovation measures,' while Siheung City is actively reviewing a 'performance-oriented personnel management system' based on civil servants' competence and achievements.

The Goyang City branch of the Korean Public Service Union issued a statement on the 19th, saying, "The civil service dismissal system is spreading like a trend nationwide," and stated they would "unite with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and launch strong resistance if the dismissal system is not abolished."

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province is taking a cautious approach, opting to conduct a thorough analysis of the system's merits and drawbacks in consideration of staff morale before immediately implementing the dismissal system.