“Phone found filming a toilet from the ceiling of the women employees’ restroom” ... Postal worker says it was “left there by mistake”

[Financial News] A court has ruled that it was justified to dismiss a postal worker caught trying to illegally film a colleague in a workplace restroom.
According to Newsis on the 12th, the Busan High Court dismissed an appeal in a lawsuit filed by postal worker A against the head of the Busan Regional Office of Korea Post, seeking to overturn the dismissal. The lower court’s ruling that A’s dismissal was justified therefore stands.
A was first appointed in 2013 at a post office under the jurisdiction of the head of the Busan Regional Office of Korea Post, and worked as an office manager from April 2020. It later emerged that in March last year, A had tried to illegally film female colleague B at the post office where A worked.
At the time, B found a cell phone in the ceiling of the post office’s unisex restroom, suspected illegal filming and reported it to the police. The phone was later found to belong to A, and the investigation confirmed that B had also found A’s phone several times in the same restroom in January 2024.
Following a review, A was dismissed in August last year. A then filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the disciplinary action, arguing that it was unlawful. A claimed the phone had merely been left behind by mistake and there had been no intention to film.
However, the court of first instance found it difficult to accept the claim that the phone had been left behind by mistake, given that it had been placed inside a broken ceiling light cover and that its camera lens had been pointed toward the toilet.
The court also noted that, even though the filming was only attempted and not completed, the act infringed the victim’s privacy, personal rights and right to sexual self-determination.
The court further ruled that “under the disciplinary standards for sexual misconduct, the only possible penalties for this conduct are dismissal and removal from office,” and that “dismissal is the least severe penalty available to the disciplinary authority.” It rejected A’s argument that the dismissal was excessively severe and that the authority had exceeded or abused its discretion.
A appealed the decision, but the appellate panel likewise ruled that “the lower court’s findings of fact and decision are considered justified.”
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