A Seoul court ruled Monday that it was unfair to fire an employee for his belated report on the revocation of his driver's license due to drunk driving.
The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of Yun, a 49-year-old former employee of a tobacco importer, and his request to invalidate the company's action to fire him.
In its ruling, Senior Judge Lee Na-ju said, "Yun reported to the company regarding the revocation of his driver's license two weeks after he was caught for drunk driving.
"This still left the company two weeks to prepare before the revocation went into effect. So in practical terms, Yun did what he had to under the circumstances and it was unfair to fire him for belated reporting."
The court also addressed the fact that Yun had signed an agreement at the time of his hiring to accept company decisions in situations where its reputation had been damaged. They said the agreement does not prevent him from making a legal appeal.
Yun sought to have a court invalidate the company's decision when the firm fired him for his failure to immediately report the incident in September 2008.