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A Study on the Legal Problems Involved in the Government Employee's Early Retirement System & Its Development Plan

  • Public Land Law Review
  • Abbr : KPLLR
  • 2008, 40(), pp.447-476
  • Publisher : Korean Public Land Law Association
  • Research Area : Social Science > Law

lee jae sam 1

1경원대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The job security of a public employee is guaranteed in essence. The purpose for such a job security system is to encourage the public employees to work faithfully fulfilling their inherent duties despite of any possible political pressures. However, the present job security system brought out its structural limitations in that one can safely stay within the organization without being dismissed no matter how he or she is incompetent or negligent unless they make a serious mistake such as being suspected of corruption. And the decision-making process conveying the will and ideas of a superior officer to subordinate officials, together with their assigned duties that require no creative activities, led the entire officialdom to work from sheer force of habit, causing a serious structural defect of producing a system towards higher cost and lower level of efficiency. Recognizing the importance of efficient personnel management applied specifically to the public employees, the early retirement system was invented in each local government as a means of remedying the structural defect found in the prevailing public employee's job security system. The purpose of such an early retirement system is to instill a feeling of tension into the officialdom stimulating their job vitality, so that they may be properly motivated in order to actively adapt to the changing social environment. In other words, the system is designed to give any public employee destroying the healthy work environment by negligence and poor job performance an opportunity to reflect on themselves and to drive them into the spirit of exertion. And it might well be interpreted that such a reform is to create a democratic work environment in the officialdom providing a better public service to the people through the renovation of the bureaucracies. Also it signifies the renovation of self-governing administration based on competence and the job performance, breaking from the geniality which led to the public employee's unreasonable job security and the seniority system in dealing with personnel affairs. However, this system of early retirement has posed various problems while it is being enforced. Various procedural problems are being derived from the procedure for selecting, managing and dismissing the candidates from office. The criteria for selecting the candidates includes mostly the abstract and subjective matters such as those who substantially injure the harmony of the organization and those who disgraced the dignity of a public employee and the like. An enterprise may be able to evaluate the results of its manpower by the business performance. However, it is not easy to find such an objective standard for a public employee providing a public service. In other words, an arbitrary decision can easily be made by those in authority who have the right of personnel management, opening the way for an abuse of authority or for absurdities and evil customs. It is noteworthy that most of the government employees subject to early retirement have been those of a lower rank. Any early retirement excluding a high-ranking government employee may substantially reduce the desired effects of the public employee's early retirement system. The current practice is that either the director or chief of the departments in a local government recommends those 4 tor 6th grade officers who will work with them and dismiss those who are excluded from such a recommendation, thus regarded as incompetent. Such a dismissal process is likely to cause a sense of incongruity in a hierarchy of officialdom. The early retirement system, when executed, can reduce the morale of the public employees. It will create the unrest and instability of job security, and reduce the will to work, leading to human relations without harmony within the organization. And the extent of malpractice such as seeking and maintaining a useful connection, blindly following the will and ideas of the superior officer or avoiding anything innovative just to safely remain in office, will be deplorable. The early retirement system enforced in a form of unofficial punishment will be likely to reduce the public employee's official punishment system to formalism. There is an official punishment system in which any wrongful conduct or negligence is subject to punishment. Anyone committing an unlawful act can be called to account under such an official system. For this reason, it is very unreasonable to expel a public employee from office as in a witch-hunt. Also any discharge or dismissal from office executed without following the official punishment procedure will not constitute the normal system prescribed in the Government Employee's Act, and will greatly threaten the job security of the public employees stipulated in the law. And if punished just for the sake of rationality, it will probably discourage the creativity of those who work with enthusiasm, producing a passive attitude of following the superior's instructions blindly just to flee from responsibility. The public employee's early retirement system can be a matter of life or death to most of the subject of such retirement and their families. For this reason, a careful plan must be drawn up in advance so that those reasonable and objective criteria appealing to all the persons concerned must be set up. In particular, it is imperative to guarantee establishing the transparent and objective selecting procedure and the dismissal criteria, which is free from any unreasonableness or ill effects. After all, the early retirement system should be utilized to stimulate the loose officialdom and to increase the work efficiency, enhancing reformation and competitiveness. The system should help it to turn into that working briskly and actively while producing a competent performance of an individual public employee. In other words, with the early retirement system in force, all public employees should be encouraged to contribute to promoting public service, working creatively and with devotion.

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