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Discrimination in the Recruitment of Flight Attendants on International Flights on the Grounds of Educational Background [2007] KRNHRC 5 (1 January 2007)

Citizens including "Park," who graduated from a technical college, filed a complaint
with the Commission that "M" Airlines discriminated against the complainants on the
ground of educational history, as flight attendant positions for international flights were
open to 4-year university graduates only.

"M" Airlines insisted that it adopted such a recruitment system to differentiate itself
from other airlines, even though the recruitment system increased labor expenses and
decreased efficiency in workforce management. It also claimed that flight attendants on
international flights did different jobs than those on domestic flights, and therefore,
required different foreign language and interpersonal skills. After the Commission began
its investigation, "M" Airlines announced that it introduced a new human resources
management system to allow flight attendants with a certain level of experience on
domestic flights to work on international flights.

After completing its investigation, the Commission found that the Cabin Crew Service
Manual, "M" Airlines' textbook for flight attendants, did not classify duties into those for
international flights and other duties for domestic flights. It also found that "M" Airlines
posted a recruitment notice saying that flight attendants both on domestic and international
flights are responsible for in-flight safety and passenger services, even though there was a
difference between the duties of flight attendants on domestic and international flights in
passenger service procedures, immigration control procedures by destination and in-flight
announcements. However, the Commission ruled that such differences in duties were not
acceptable reasons for discrimination on the ground of educational background. In
addition, it concluded that there were no reasons to consider university graduation as an
essential qualification to become a flight attendant on international flights because "M"
Airlines had already been testing applicants' basic capabilities to fulfill duties such as
foreign language skills, physical strength and swimming capacity in recruiting flight
attendants for international flights, and applicants had to get on-the-job training and gain
experience before being assigned to international flights. Furthermore, it stated that the
respondent did not specify what benefits it gained from restricting educational background
in recruiting flight attendants for international flights, and that the case for restriction was
not clear and reasonable, as the respondent admitted that such a restriction was
disadvantageous in workforce management and labor expenses.
The Commission said that the work period requirement and detailed processes for the
transfer of domestic flight attendants into international flight attendants that the respondent
had recently introduced were not yet defined, and that such conversion would not address
discrimination in recruiting flight attendants for international flights, even if the conversion
system was fully established.

Therefore, the Commission recommended that "M" Airlines improve its recruitment
system, saying that allowing only applicants who had graduated from a university to apply
for international flight attendant positions constituted discrimination on the ground of
educational background.