[Report file] Busan No. 11, Gyeongnam No. 3, Seoul relay branch, story of maternity leave ①

Are you a weekend couple or moving in Seoul?

42-year-old Nam Mo joined Lotte Shopping's Super Business Headquarters in 2009.

Just before the end of his two years of maternity leave, Nam was informed that he would be assigned to a Seoul relay station.

Until recently, Nam worked only in Busan or Gyeongnam.

▶ Are you planning to return to work after maternity leave?

400km away, eventually resigned (Reported on the 8th news on the 27th)

Enlarging an image

Nam was worried.

He imagined going to a Seoul relay station.

You have two options.

One is a weekend couple.

On weekdays, I live in the male-only dormitory provided by the management (3 rooms, 25 pyeong, shared by 3 employees), and only go to see my family in Busan on weekends.

The other is taking his family and living together in Seoul.

As a weekend couple, going back and forth between Seoul and Busan every weekend became burdensome.

Moreover, it was not easy to be separated from his Vietnamese wife and two sons aged 4 and 5.

Transportation costs are also a burden.

The cost of the Seoul-Busan KTX is 59,800 won based on economy class.

Of course, the company says it will help with transportation expenses, but this is not the only cost incurred as a weekend couple.

Moving in Seoul is also difficult.

Nam has a home in Busan.

He took out a home loan and made it difficult to buy a house.

He has a condition to live.

He cannot rent to others.

It also costs a lot to find a place to live with his wife and children in Seoul.

The management provides a monthly housing subsidy of 300,000 won when going to an area where there is no residence.

There is no monthly rental house in Seoul where a family of four can live for 300,000 won a month.

Enlarging an image

In 2009, he decided to leave the company.

After much deliberation, Nam decided to resign.

He has already confessed that he had given up to some extent when he received a call from a Lotte Shopping HR manager saying he would be dispatched to Seoul, ahead of his reinstatement on August 27, 2022.

Ms. Nam said that tantrums grew.

Mr. Nam said that he really thought that he had no place outside of the Seoul relay point.

At the same time, he said that he even blamed himself, thinking that maybe it was because he took maternity leave for two years in a row.

He said he really heard all of his thoughts.

Enlarging an image

Lotte Shopping's position is that Nam's Seoul relay branch has nothing to do with parental leave.

It also revealed where this year's parental leave workers were issued after reinstatement.

The reporter checked where the workers in the Yeongnam area went after returning from parental leave.

About 10 people were working in the Yeongnam area, and all of them returned to their positions before taking a leave of absence.

The only worker assigned to another location was Mr. Nam.

I asked why only Mr. Nam had gone to his hometown.

The company did not give a clear answer to this.

However, other parental leave workers answered that it was not the case that they took long parental leave like Nam did.

I don't know if Nam's writing for two years had an impact.

He asked if the HR test scores before reinstatement were reflected.

The company also said no.

Is it all about retail?

SBS reported the article in 8 News on October 27th.

After the article was posted on the portal site, I saw the trend of comments.

Responses to each portal site were markedly different.

Let's take the case of Naver.

Many netizens overwhelmingly agreed with the comments defending the management, such as the distribution industry is what it is, and it has nothing to do with parental leave.

To help you understand some of these things, let's explain the circumstances before and after.

Enlarging an image

Nam has worked since 2009.

There were a total of 14 orders.

He is working at the same branch due to the company's reorganization, but includes all those that have been officially assigned.

Before taking maternity leave in August 2020, Nam had been issued 11 orders in Busan and 3 orders in Gyeongnam.

Looking at the years just before parental leave, we look at the Marine City branch (Busan), Haeundae branch (Busan), Seosang branch (Changwon), Left 1-dong branch (Busan), Hakjang branch (Busan), Munhyeon branch (Busan), and Samcheonpo branch (Sacheon) )no see.

Enlarging an image

Mr. Nam's job is 'grocery'.

It is the role of managing industrial products delivered to the mart.

If Nam had been ordered by the nationwide district even before he went on maternity leave, the Seoul relay station would not have seemed strange.

Also, there is at least one person in charge of 'grocery' at each mart.

Nam's job group is unique, so it doesn't seem to be a rare thing that he has a job.

2. Many people point out that those

Lotte Shopping also said that at the time, the only place to go was the Seoul relay store.

Mr. Nam repeatedly asked the HR manager if there were any other positions, but the answer was the same.

Nam eventually left the company, and after that, the reinstatement of those on maternity leave continued at Lotte.

And let's look at the personnel announcement dated October 17th.

At this time, people with the same 'grocery' job group as Mr. Nam are often assigned to the Yeongnam area.

In particular, a worker who returned from parental leave like Mr. Nam was assigned to the Gimhae Jangyu store as a grocery store.

Nam said he was disappointed when he saw this.

He said that he went to the Seoul relay station because he didn't have a seat, but he wondered if he really didn't have a seat.

Nam complained that the company thought he was useless when he returned from maternity leave.

Enlarging an image

After retirement, Nam also files a complaint with the Jinju Employment and Labor Office.

He said that when he returned from maternity leave, he was treated at a disadvantage, and he wanted the Lotte shopping business owner to be punished.

The reporter met in person with the labor inspector in charge.

The labor inspector said that after receiving the complaint, he contacted Lotte Shopping before the investigation.

And if Mr. Nam wants to reinstate, he said that he said it with the intention of looking for a position in Gyeongnam.

In fact, the labor inspector seems to have made a phone call to Nam and asked if he would like to return to work, with the intention that the management could find a job in Gyeongnam.

The contents are recorded as evidence of Mr. Nam's conversation with the labor inspectorate.

Since last year, I have been doing a lot of reporting on workplace bullying, such as workplace bullying.

I have met many victims of abuse at work, including large corporations, public institutions, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The company's position has always been there.

It's not 100%, but it often points to the personal problems of victims of work power abuse.

I've seen a lot of cases where the person who raised the issue of power abuse at work discusses their usual work attitude and privacy issues.

Even in the case of the Nonghyup employee who was assigned to Voleum Road this time, there were pointed out the problem of working attitude.

Ms. Nam was no exception.

It is said that he was planning to leave from the beginning, such as that Nam had already found another job before retirement.

Mr. Nam even performed vein surgery on his lower extremities ahead of his reinstatement.

This is because, due to the nature of his work, his legs must not be so uncomfortable that he has to walk a lot in the store.

However, ahead of his work on August 27, 2022, a phone call came first from the company.

Starting with a phone call from the branch manager on August 11th, the manager of the Yeongnam region phoned on August 19th, suggesting that a Seoul relay branch has been issued.

Enlarging an image

Nam had no intention of changing jobs at all.

However, he could not disobey the order of the Seoul relay station, so he resigned and looked for a place he had commuted to and from Busan from then on.

During his two years of maternity leave, all he had to do was earn 1.15 million won a month.

He was reinstated, and again, without an income, his livelihood was difficult, so he immediately started looking for a job.

And he was fortunate enough to have a seat at a small mart in the Busan area so he could change jobs.

He has a low salary since he went to Lotte Shopping, but the reality is that there are not many new jobs that Mr. Nam, who is over 40, can urgently find.

Lotte male parental leave TV advertisement

In the past, the Lotte Group also did TV commercials encouraging men to take parental leave.

It is the content that Lotte is working together to overcome the low birth rate.

You can still view the content by searching for 'Lotte Male Parental Leave' on YouTube.

Male employees can be seen taking maternity leave comfortably and taking care of the family.

Parental leave is different from other leave.

Parental leave does not exist simply to provide workers with a break.

In order to have children in the age of low fertility, it is necessary to make it relatively easy to raise children.

That is why the government is stepping in, and large corporations are also fulfilling their social responsibility to encourage parental leave.

While parental leave is encouraged, it is of course not acceptable to give unfavorable treatment when returning to work.

It should be viewed with a stricter standard.

In accordance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, employers are subject to criminal punishment rather than a fine for negligence when they are treated unfavorably.

Remote dispatch itself is not a problem

What I would like to point out in Mr. Nam's story this time is not simply taking issue with remote dispatch.

There are cases in which workers are assigned to work where they do not want to work.

Everyone knows that greetings cannot please everyone.

Nam's story is not just about personnel complaints.

It should be noted why Nam, who came after maternity leave, had no choice but to resign from the company.

In this process, we need to examine how much the company cares for Mr. Nam, and whether he sincerely helped Mr. Nam to continue working for the company.

If unfavorable treatment is recognized, the company should be legally punished.

The fact that the company was difficult to manage is not an excuse.

It is the managers' fault that the Lotte Shopping Super Business Headquarters is experiencing difficulties in managing and many stores are closing.

It is not the fault of the workers who have been silently doing what they are told to do in frontline marts like Mr. Nam.