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Gender Discrimination [2006] KRNHRC 13 (1 February 2006)

Employment Discrimination against Female KTX Attendants
In February 2006, complainant "Kim" of the Korean Railway Workers' Union filed a
complaint alleging, "the Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) discriminated against
female attendants on the basis of sex by specifying only females to undertake customer
service duties and by outsourcing the work of KTX female attendants while directly
hiring other crew members resulting in discriminatory employment conditions in terms
of wages and bonuses." In addition, "Min" (female) of the KTX train attendance branch
of the Korean Press conference on the recommendation concerning employment discrimination
against female KTX train attendants, Sept. 11, 2006. Railway Workers' Union filed a complaint
based on employment discrimination against KTX female train attendants.

Korail responded that it did not outsource based on gender and that, although Korail Retail, the
former outsourcing company had preferably recruited female applicants, KTX Tour Service, the new outsourcing company,
recruits male attendants as well. Korail representatives added that there are four male train
attendants on the Saemaeul Train and one female manager (currently on maternity leave)
among the KTX managers, which provides substantial evidence that Korail is providing
equal employment opportunities without distinction as to gender as long as applicants
have the necessary work experience specified under job requirements as a train crew.

Following the investigation, the Commission concluded that the Korail made decisions
on the recruitment and employment conditions of female train attendants, although it is a
subcontracting employer in form. Additionally, Korail had the status as a respondent under
the NHRC Act and should be held responsible due to this consideration. The Commission
also concluded that, despite the fact that gender is not a bona fide occupational quality or a
compulsory job qualification for working as a train attendant, Korail recruited female
attendants as lower paid non-regular workers of the outsourcing company, stating that
customer service is work well-suited for females, and therefore lowering the status of
females constitutes employment discrimination based on gender. The president of Korail
was recommended to reform the gender-discriminatory employment structure.