The human rights watchdog on Friday asked local schools owned by religious educational institutions not to discriminate against job seekers who have a different religion.
A man, identified only by the surname Lee, recently filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission after he was not allowed to apply for an administrative position at two Seoul universities which restricted applicants only to those who follow religions affiliated with the schools.
Both schools -- Buddhist-affiliated Dongguk University and evangelical Seoul Women's University -- required applicants to submit documents to prove their religion.
"These universities differ from state universities as they were established based on founders' religious missions, but they also function as schools that provide public service," the rights panel said in a recommendation. "They should not infringe upon equal employment rights of applicants who do not have a certain religion."
As employees in administrative affairs perform duties related to school management and operation, having the religion affiliated with the
institutions is not a requirement to efficiently carry on their work, the panel said.
The two universities argued that hiring employees committed to their religion is legitimate as the private universities were established to fulfill their founding ideology. Even if non-believers are hired as faculty,
it is hard for them to adjust to the organization, and they could get disadvantages in personnel affairs for not being able to fulfill the schools' religious missions, they said.