“I Raise Two Kids, So I Worked Reduced Hours”… Discrimination in Salary Step Recognition to be prohibited

- ACRC states its opinion that “a daycare center teacher who has reduced her working hours for childcare should not face discrimination in salary step recognition”

- “All periods of parental leave should be acknowledged as career” vs. “In the case of reduced work hours, only if working more than 6 hours, they shall be recognized as one day’s work”...raising an issue of “equity”

(December 17, 2024, ACRC)

It has been determined that those who reduce their working hours for childcare should not face disadvantages in salary step calculations.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Ryu Chul Whan) expressed its opinion to the Ministry of Education that the criteria for calculating salary steps for a daycare center teacher who has worked reduced hours for childcare are unreasonable and should be revised.

The applicant worked as a teacher at a daycare center within the ○○ District Office and reduced her hours to 4 hours a day for two years to raise her two children.

According to the Ministry of Education’s “Guidelines for Childcare Services,” only those who work more than 6 hours a day while reducing working hours for childcare are recognized as having worked for a day in the current salary step system. If working less than 6 hours, only the actual hours worked are recognized as career.

In this regard, the teacher at a daycare center filed a complaint for grievances with the ACRC, stating that it is unfair to recognize a work day only when she works more than 6 hours because she is working reduced hours for childcare.

The Commission found that, according to Article 19-2, Paragraph 5 of the “Equal Employment Opportunity and Support for Work-Life Balance Act,” workers should not receive unfavorable treatment due to the reduction of working hours for childcare. In addition, teachers who take parental leave are having the periods of their leave fully counted as work experience. However, for those like the complainant who reduced their working hours for childcare, only those who work more than 6 hours a day can have the day recognized as one day work experience, raising concerns about fairness.

Therefore, the Commission has advised the Ministry of Education to revise the criteria for salary step recognition to allow childcare teachers who have worked reduced hours to have their work days recognized as one day work experience regardless of the number of hours worked.

The Vice Chairperson for Grievance Handling and Secretariat of the ACRC, Park Jong-min, said, “This institutional improvement is to ensure that workers who reduce their work hours for childcare do not face disadvantages in the calculation of work experience,” adding that “We hope workers can use reduced working hours for childcare with more peace of mind in the years to come.”