Question 167. In an unlawful dismissal dispute where the plaintiff is an Employee working in one of the Company’s subsidiaries located in a different province from the Employer headquarter, at the meantime, the Employees’ permanent residence is in another province, which is the local Court that the Employee must file a lawsuit in? Does the Court or the Employer has the right to request the change of Court, one is in the place of working of the Employee and one is in the Employer headquarter?

Answer:

With respect to a dispute over compensation of damage, benefit after the termination of the LC, SI, HI, UI, right and interest related to employment, salary, income and working conditions, the plaintiff who is the Employee can choose to file a lawsuit in the local Court where he or she resides or where he or she works for dispute settlement[1]. Thus, the Employee filing a lawsuit over unlawful dismissal can choose the local Court of either place: (i) where the Employee works (i.e., the Employer’ branch); or (ii) where the Employee registered his or her permanent residence.

A lawsuit is only accepted by a competent authority Court. If the lawsuit is accepted by an incompetent Court, it must transfer the case dossier to the competent Court and remove the case information from the book of accepted cases[2]. Therefore, if the Employee chooses the Court where his or her permanent residence is, the Court and the Employer will not have the right to request for change of jurisdiction to be the Court at the working place of the Employee or the Employer headquarter. However, the Employee can choose to agree to the jurisdiction of the Court where the Employer headquarter is located[3].

[1] Article 40.1 (dd) of the Civil Proceedings Code

[2] Article 41.1 of the Civil Proceedings Code

[3] Article 39.1 (b) of the Civil Proceedings Code