Pursuant to Article 125.1 and Article 125.2 of the Labour Code, Employers have the right to impose the disciplinary action of dismissal if Employees commit acts that cause serious damage or threaten to cause extremely serious damage to the properties and interests of enterprises. Accordingly, if Employees’ acts fall into one of the acts that cause serious damage that must be subjected to dismissal as prescribed in ILR when imposing the disciplinary action, Employers must provide evidence to prove the followings: (i) there is actual damage corresponding to the level of serious damage as mentioned in the ILR of enterprises; and (ii) there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the violation and its corresponding damage. Therefore, in this situation, if Employees have committed acts that are prohibited by the ILR but do not cause damage, Employers cannot impose the disciplinary action of dismissal.
In this case, Employers can impose other forms of labour discipline prescribed in the labour laws such as reprimand, the extension of the pay raise period, removal from office if these forms of labour discipline are prescribed in the ILR.
For example: If Employees smoke in the factory and this act is likely to cause damage to the enterprise, can Employers impose the disciplinary action of extending the pay raise period to Employees?
To answer this question, pursuant to Article 124 of the Labour Code, besides the labour discipline in the form of dismissal, Employers may depend on the seriousness of the violation, impose other forms of labour discipline such as reprimand, an extension of the pay raise period for not more than 6 months or removal from office. Regarding these forms of labour discipline, the Labour Code does not require the element of existent damage as for the case of dismissal mentioned above, but Employers must ensure that the Employees’ acts of violation, in this case, have been specifically prescribed in the enterprise’s ILR or LCs[1].
As such, if Employees smoke in the workplace or in the warehouse and factory of enterprise and this act has been prohibited by the IRS, Employers may impose the disciplinary action of extending the pay raise period to Employees.
[1] Article 127.3 of the Labour Code
