Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center: Kindergarten Director's Insulting Remarks and Disclosure of Resignation Letter Constitute Human Rights Violation

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Park No-hoon] The Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center has determined that a public kindergarten director's conduct—making insulting remarks to a specific childcare teacher in a public setting, disclosing the contents of a resignation letter, and pointing out faults—constitutes a human rights violation.

The Human Rights Center recommended human rights education for the kindergarten director and expressed its opinion to the relevant local government head to establish measures to prevent recurrence of similar cases.

According to the provincial Human Rights Center on the 3rd, A, who worked as a childcare teacher at a public kindergarten in the province, heard insulting remarks from the director during the process of submitting a resignation letter. At a gathering of all teachers, the director disclosed the contents of the resignation letter and a video recording of the fault, which led A to feel humiliated. In May, A submitted a request for relief to the Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center.

In response, the director claimed that the contents of the resignation letter that A alleged were not factual, so she had no choice but to hear the opinions of other teachers. The director also claimed that the video was disclosed to everyone because it concerned child safety and was done with A's consent.

The Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center conducted investigations into A, the director, and other teachers. On the 28th, following a Human Rights Ombudsman meeting, it determined the case to be a violation of personality rights guaranteed under Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.

In particular, the director made statements multiple times in an office where other staff members were present, such as "Aren't you ashamed and embarrassed, in front of these young teachers? In front of children like your own?", "Because of this teacher, we're managing things in such a pathetic way. We're hitting rock bottom. ... Because of this teacher, the entire kindergarten staff atmosphere has become a mess," among others. The center determined that these statements, in light of social norms, would lower the social evaluation of the applicant's personal worth.

Although matters regarding the resignation letter contents and video could have been addressed by directly confirming with the person involved or issuing a warning, the decision to disclose them to all teachers is deemed to be capable of causing humiliation to A, in light of social norms and the sound common sense of ordinary citizens.

An official at the Human Rights Center stated, "The Human Rights Ombudsman's decision is significant in raising awareness that insulting remarks at kindergartens and publicly disclosing childcare teachers' faults to all staff constitute human rights violations," and added, "We plan to actively monitor to guarantee the human rights of teachers and children working at kindergartens in the province."

Anyone can apply for counseling or relief requests with the Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center regarding human rights violations and discrimination that occur in provincial government and affiliated administrative agencies, provincial public institutions, agencies entrusted with provincial affairs, organizations receiving provincial support, and various social welfare facilities. Third-party applications are also possible (031-8008-2340, Homepage: www.gg.go.kr/humanrights).