Hello,

This is Attorney Choi Jong-ha from Cheongchul Law Firm.

In the past, during the recruitment process, it was common to require information about family relationships, as well as the academic background and experience of parents, and it was typical for unsuccessful candidates' resumes to remain somewhere in the human resources department's drawers even after the recruitment process was completed. However, according to the Act on the Fairness of Recruitment Procedures (the “Recruitment Procedure Act”), employers now need to be careful not to collect unnecessary information when hiring employees, and they must also pay attention to the management of such collected information afterwards.

The Recruitment Procedure Act prohibits the collection of the following types of information (Article 4-3 of the Recruitment Procedure Act).

1. Physical conditions of the job seeker, such as appearance, height, and weight

2. The job seeker’s place of origin, marital status, and assets

3. The academic background, occupation, and assets of the job seeker’s direct descendants and siblings

Of course, the collection of such information is not absolutely prohibited. The Recruitment Procedure Act stipulates that such information should not be collected when it is “not necessary for performing the job.” In other words, if information about appearance, height, weight, etc. is necessary for assessing suitability for a job (for example, for models, bodyguards, athletes, etc.), then there are no restrictions on collecting such information.

On the other hand, requiring appearance-related information when hiring for a simple clerical job will be restricted; however, in practice, guiding candidates to attach a photo to their resumes is not considered illegal collection of appearance information.

What about criminal record information? The Recruitment Procedure Act does not prohibit the collection of criminal record information, but the Act on the Expungement of Criminal Records (the “Expungement Act”) prohibits the acquisition of criminal record information itself unless there are special circumstances (Article 6 of the Expungement Act). The reasoning that it is necessary for the “employee recruitment process” does not constitute a reason under the Expungement Act for collecting criminal record information, so employers should not request any criminal record data from employees under any circumstances.

It is important to note that under the Expungement Act, the prohibition on acquiring criminal record information is irrespective of the consent of the individual concerned. Even if the candidate seeking employment voluntarily obtains and submits the criminal record information themselves, it should not be acquired. The Expungement Act states that those who unlawfully acquire criminal record information for purposes not permitted by law can be punished with imprisonment for up to 2 years or a fine of up to 20 million won, so particular caution should be exercised not to acquire such information.

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