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Court upholds discipline for civil servant over restaurant side hustle

Published: 14 Apr. 2025, 13:52

A jokbal (braised pig’s trotters) dish [JOONGANG PHOTO]

A civil servant’s late-night side hustle operating a jokbal (braised pig trotters) restaurant under his wife’s name has ended in legal defeat, as a local court upheld a disciplinary warning issued by his public agency, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

The Incheon District Court announced Monday that it dismissed a lawsuit filed by a public servant working at the ministry, contesting a disciplinary measure taken against him for violating the National Public Service Act, which prohibits public servants from engaging in outside employment without prior authorization.

The civil servant was caught in March last year after moonlighting at the jokbal joint for four months, during which he neither reported nor sought permission for his involvement. He attempted to transfer the business to an acquaintance once suspicions arose. Investigators also found that he occasionally spent the night at his office after closing the restaurant late at night.

Following an internal investigation prompted by a tip-off, the civil servant’s agency convened a disciplinary committee, concluding that he had violated public servants' obligations to follow decorum and refrain from engaging in for-profit activities without approval. He was given an official warning — the lightest level of disciplinary action under the law.

Civil servants leave the government complex in Sejong on April 4, 2017. [NEWS1]

The civil servant challenged the disciplinary action through the appeals board at the Ministry of Personnel Management, but his appeal was rejected. He subsequently filed an administrative lawsuit in October last year, claiming the disciplinary action was unfair.

“The inspector did not inform me of their identity and the purpose of their visit during the on-site investigation, and I was forced to write a confirmation form," the civil servant argued. "My reputation was damaged when the disciplinary action was made public."

“I only partially helped with the restaurant and had not been involved in its actual management,” the civil servant further said. “The disciplinary action was an abuse of discretion given my years of faithful public service.”

The court rejected these claims, ruling that the civil servant "substantially engaged in the restaurant’s operation" and that his actions “constituted inappropriate behavior that undermined the dignity of a public servant.”

"The purpose of the disciplinary action — to uphold discipline in the public sector — is legitimate," the court said, adding that “issuing the lightest form of punishment did not exceed the agency's discretionary authority.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.

BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]