The Supreme Court has ruled that it is justified for an employee to secretly check a colleague’s personal information to report misconduct and include it in a report.
The Supreme Court’s Third Division (Presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) announced on the 26th that it overturned the lower court’s decision, which had imposed a fine of 1,000,000 Korean won on Busan Environment Corporation employee A for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, and remanded the case to the Busan District Court.
In April 2021, while working at the Busan Environment Corporation’s Western Facility Business Office, A reported that colleague B had illegally received overtime pay. During this process, A accessed B’s health check-up documents without consent and included personal information such as B’s resident registration number, address, and mobile phone number in the report. The prosecution took issue with this and referred A to trial on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.
The first trial court sentenced A to a fine of 1,000,000 Korean won. The court stated, “The personal information was used for a purpose different from the original intent of confirming health check-up eligibility,” and judged that “even if the defendant’s reporting was for public interest, it cannot be considered an exceptional circumstance.” The second trial court upheld the same judgment.
However, the Supreme Court viewed A’s actions as justified and remanded the case. The Supreme Court...
Trump falsely claims 274 FBI agents were placed in the January 6 crowd. DOJ report found no evidence FBI agents orchestrated the Capitol riot. 1,400 arrests made and 1,000 convictions tied to the...