A university professor who was dismissed for habitually demeaning and sexually harassing women during class filed a complaint and won the case.
According to the legal community, the 10th administrative division of the Seoul High Court overturned the judgment of the first instance in an administrative litigation filed by university professor “A”, “Please cancel the decision of the Teacher Appeals Review Committee,” and ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
Mr. A was fired in February 2019 for making several derogatory remarks against women during her class and for sexually harassing or molesting female students.
According to the results of the university investigation and the facts recognized by the court, during a class in 2017, Mr. A said, "The reason our country is like this is because a woman is the president" or "What kind of president is a woman?"
She told the girls, "You have pretty legs" or "Girls like to go naked," and she was also found to have stroked the girl's hair or touched her waist.
Mr. A said that in March 2019, she said, "Please cancel her dismissal."
The court of first instance found that her dismissal was justified, saying that all the reasons for her disciplinary action were recognized and that the measure was not too heavy for her fault, but it was overturned on appeal.
The court of appeals decided to cancel her dismissal, saying, "The dismissal in this case has lost remarkably lack of validity in terms of social norms and has deviated and abused disciplinary discretion." "
According to the disciplinary standards for educational officials, sexual harassment can result in a maximum suspension of 'when the degree of misconduct is weak and gross negligence'.
If this judgment becomes final, the decision of the Teacher Appeals Review Committee on Mr. A will be cancelled.
The Faculty Appeals Review Committee appealed against the decision of the appeals court.