Emailed Pink Slip Ruled Legally Valid
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Next time when you check your email, you'll have another reason to give a closer look before hitting the delete key, as the electronic missives now have greater legal force than ever before.
In the first ruling of its kind Sunday, the Seoul Central District Court recognized that email notification holds as much legal binding force as that written on paper.
The ruling was made on a suit filed by a former Daewoo Engineering and Construction employee, identified as Kim, asking the court to invalidate the firm's notice of the termination of his employment through email.
Kim cited as legal basis for his request the Labor Standard Law that only recognizes the legal force of pink slips when in written form.
The law, however, is not clear over whether the written form includes an electronic document. Legal experts believe that the ruling is an attempt by the court to update its legal interpretations to the current digital age and bring clarity to the grey areas left in the current law.
Kim's case dates back to October 2007 when the company sent him a dismissal notice through email. Kim had gone to the United States in 1998 on a scholarship from the company to work on his masters degree at the University of North Carolina.
Kim, however, extended his protracted unpaid leave of absence three times and worked to gain a Ph.D.
The company convened a personnel committee and decided to fire Kim. In protest, Kim sued the company, claiming the clause in the Labor Standard Law.
"The company's email had an attached file documenting the reasons for his dismissal," the court said. "Besides, Kim used email as his primary channel of communication with the company."
The court dismissed Kim's claim that emailed pink slips are not valid as being without merit.