A court has ruled that if a teacher loses health due to a parent's malicious complaints, the parent must compensate for the emotional harm.
The civil division of the Jeonju District Court (Presiding Judge Hwang Jeong-su) said on the 12th that it ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a damages lawsuit filed by A, a vice principal at an elementary school in Jeonju, against parent B. The court ordered B to pay 30 million won.
The case began after parent B repeatedly filed malicious complaints against teacher A. B had earlier protested, saying, "Correct the contents of my child's student record," "Why do you make the child play basketball when the child is sick," "Why do you conduct classes without a subject-by-subject syllabus," and "Why do you return Teacher's Day gifts."
A, who was in charge of handling parents' complaints at the time, suffered severe stress from the incident and saw health deteriorate to the point daily life became difficult, developing depression and facial paralysis.
The court said, "Parents and other guardians may present their views to the school regarding the education of their children or minors, and the school should respect those views," but added, "Such expression must occur in a manner that respects teachers' professionalism and authority."
It continued, "Acts that unjustifiably interfere with legitimate educational activities and infringe on teachers' authority should be seen as exceeding the bounds of legitimate rights," and ruled, "We determined the amount of consolation money by comprehensively considering the defendant's unlawful acts and their extent and duration, and the plaintiff's emotional harm."