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| Office workers stroll along the lane beside Deoksu Palace in Seoul after lunch, Oct. 14. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han |
By Bahk Eun-ji
Certain companies here are facing a backlash after they threatened to punish workers who get COVID-19 by telling them that contracting the coronavirus would affect their personnel evaluations. Activists have pointed out that such a punitive action is a violation of human rights, with companies stigmatizing infected employees and attempting to excessively control their personal lives.
The central and local governments are also being accused of abuse of authority over their plans to reprimand civil servants if they get infected with COVID-19 after not abiding by guidelines to refrain from unnecessary meetings, events or meals.
According to industry sources, a manager at DB Financial Investment sent a threatening message to all employees, Nov. 16, a day after one employee was confirmed to have COVID-19.
"It is not possible to discipline or punish her just because she was infected, but we will clearly impose disadvantages in personnel management such as promotion and evaluation depending on how she was infected," he said in the message.
The message also noted that many other employees were self-isolating due to their contact with her, meaning the company saw lowered productivity as a result.
After a backlash from employees, the company claimed the message was intended to encourage staff to comply with quarantine rules to avoid any further spread of the coronavirus, adding the employee in question would return to work soon without facing any disadvantages.
In February, during the early stages of the outbreak, Dongwon Home Food and Kyongnam Bank sent emails and text messages to employees stating that they would be reprimanded if they became infected.
"In my company's recent notice, it said we should fill out a questionnaire every day related to the coronavirus and the company would hold us responsible if it was filled with any false information," said a 36-year-old office worker in Seoul, who wished to be identified only by his surname Lee.
"It felt unpleasant to read the notice as it seems to be a tacit warning that employees will be punished if they get the virus."
A 29-year-old worker at a state-owned company who also wished to be identified only by her surname Jo, said her colleagues strongly opposed recent guidelines threatening to reprimand those violating quarantine rules and becoming infected.
"The guidelines say that all private meetings are restricted, but the criteria are vague, so we are not sure whether we can have meetings with customers or colleagues," Jo said.
The activists pointed out that while quarantine measures are important, it is excessive for companies to control the private lives of individuals through threats of negative personnel assessments or other disciplinary action. There are also concerns that these factors could drive more people to conceal their symptoms to avoid such punishment.
"Anyone can get infected with the virus especially during this prolonged pandemic. We need to recognize that confirmed patients can be our neighbors, friends or family members who were infected just a little earlier than us," said Kim Seok-ho, a sociology professor at Seoul National University.
"Such a method of threatening does more harm than good and is not helpful for quarantine work."
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