SOUTH KOREA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sang Wook Cho, Soojung Lee, Seung Hyun Lee, Tae Eun Lee and Christopher Mandel, Yulchon LLC
Yulchon LLC Parnas Tower 38th Floor 521 Teheran-ro
Gangnam-gu Seoul 06164 Korea
Tel: +82 2 528 5200 Fax: +82 2 528 5300 Email: mail@yulchon.com Web: www.yulchon.com
1. Opening an HR Internal Investigation 1.1 Circumstances HR investigations are typically triggered by an employ - ee’s complaint to a manager or the HR department, or through a dedicated whistle-blowing/reporting system. They can also be triggered by the company becoming aware of misconduct through an internal or external audit, or even via media coverage. An investigation can also be required by the authorities in certain circumstances. For example, if an employ - ee files a petition at a labour office (an administrative office maintained by the Ministry of Employment and Labour) alleging workplace or sexual harassment, the labour office will generally require the employer to investigate and provide a report. 1.2 Bases Employers have a statutory obligation to promptly investigate workplace and sexual harassment if an employee files a complaint or if the company other - wise becomes aware of such conduct. For other kinds of misconduct, such as financial fraud or IP theft, employers generally have no specific legal obligation to investigate. However, employers that are subject to specific regulatory regimes, such as financial institutions, may be obliged to investigate wrongdoing in accordance with their industry-specific regulations.
1.3 Communication Channels For workplaces with 30 or more employees, a labour- management council and a grievance-handling com - mittee must be established, with their members chosen from the council. However, in practice, such committees are relatively rarely used by employees as the primary means of reporting problems. More commonly, employees file complaints with a manager or executive, or with the HR department. At companies that operate an internal hotline/report - ing system, reports may also come in through that system. An employer does not have to maintain any mecha - nism to allow or facilitate anonymous reporting. How - ever, employers must be careful not to disclose the identity of a potential whistle-blower and to prevent any retaliation against a whistle-blower. 1.4 Responsibility There are no express legal rules governing who should be responsible for carrying out an investigation. How - ever, applicable legislation requires that an employer conduct an “objective” investigation into potential workplace harassment. Typically, an HR or audit department is responsible for conducting internal investigations. There are gen - erally no restrictions on involving external counsel in an investigation. In practice, outside lawyers and licensed labour consultants often assist with such investigations. Typically, external counsel’s assistance is sought in cases where:
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