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Age Discrimination in the Recruitment of Nurses [2007] KRNHRC 2 (1 January 2007)

Citizen "Park" filed a complaint with the Commission that she faced discrimination
based on age. "F" Corporation posted a recruitment notice that "G" Hospital wanted to
employ nurses born in 1981 or after. The complainant said that she was denied an
employment opportunity, because she was born in 1977.
"F" Corporation insisted that other public hospitals and general hospitals also restricted
the age of new nurses because nurses worked as a team on three shifts and had to create a
close relationship with one another.

The Commission made recommendations in the past that government organizations and
private companies remove the age limit in recruiting employees including public servants,
university faculty and flight attendants, if there is no reasonable correlation between the
required duties and age, saying that the age limit constitutes discrimination and a violation
of the right to equality. In this case, the Commission believed that the age limit cannot be
tolerable if there was no reasonable correlation between the fundamental duties of nursing
and age.

The Commission acknowledged that nursing required a stronger hierarchy and order or
systematic cooperation among colleagues than other professions, as nurses care for the
lives of patients. However, it found that creating a hierarchy or close relationships among
nurses was not part of the fundamental duties of being a nurse, and that an age-based
hierarchy was not essential. Even if a hierarchy was required, this did not necessarily have
to be based on age. It ruled that there was no reasonable correlation between fulfilling the
fundamental duties of nursing and age, and that expertise, experience and leadership of
senior nurses was an advantage, not a disadvantage.

The Commission ruled that the age limit by the respondent in recruiting new nurses
constituted discrimination on the ground of age, and recommended that the respondent
remove restrictions on the age of applicants in recruiting new nurses.