A court has ruled that it is unfair to discipline a military civilian employee with a salary cut for refusing a superior's directive to identify and report meeting attendees on the grounds that it was time to get off work.

The court based its decision on the reasoning that the directive was unrelated to military duties.

The 12th Administrative Division of the Seoul Administrative Court (Presiding Judge Kang Jae-won) recently ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by a civilian employee, identified as A, against their unit to cancel the disciplinary action.

Employee A had been subjected to a demotion after refusing a superior's order—stating, "It is time to leave work, and I will hand over the task to someone else"—when told to investigate and report on the purpose of an upcoming meeting and the other military units attending.

The unit concluded that employee A had violated the obligation under the Military Service Act to obey the job-related orders of a superior.

Although the disciplinary level was subsequently reduced from demotion to a salary cut by the Ministry of National Defense Civilian Employee Appeal Review Committee, employee A filed an administrative lawsuit to challenge the decision.

The court ruled in favor of employee A.

The reasoning was that the job-related orders of a superior stipulated under the Military Service Act must entail military duties, whereas the directive given by employee A's superior was unrelated to military obligations.

Previously, employee A also stood trial on criminal charges for insubordination, but that court similarly acquitted employee A, judging that "the order in this case pertained to administrative tasks unrelated to imposing military obligations."

(Photo: Yonhap News)