Labor ministry signs agreement to protect hospital workers from harassment

The labor ministry said Thursday it had signed an agreement with hospital and nursing groups to combat workplace harassment in hospitals, where health and welfare workers recorded the highest workplace-harassment experience rate in 2024, at 25 percent.

The agreement also includes the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Korean Hospital Association, the Korean Nurses Association, the Korea Labor Foundation and the Korea Employment and Labor Education Institute.

The agreement was drawn up after a series of cases in which medical workers suffered from workplace harassment and excessive workloads. The government said the intensity and responsibility of hospital work can leave workers exposed to sustained stress.

Health and welfare accounted for the largest industry share of workplace-harassment complaints filed in 2025, at 16 percent.

The six organizations will form a health-care workplace innovation council, review progress every six months and pursue three main collaboration tasks.

Hospitals recommended by the Korean Hospital Association will enter a fast-track for diagnostic and consulting support without separate screening. The program will waive hospitals' required contribution for consultations focused on improving organizational culture.

The partners will assess hierarchical culture and other potential drivers of harassment for early-career nurses, and expand prevention training. They will develop a standard manual for improving organizational culture in health-care settings and broaden support to reduce actual working hours to medical workers such as university-hospital nurses, who fall outside existing assistance. The health ministry also said its first comprehensive nursing plan would seek to institutionalize appropriate nurse staffing.

The partners will strengthen counseling and support through the Nurse SOS channel for health workers who experience harassment. They will link information on problem workplaces identified by the health ministry and nurses association to labor ministry workplace inspections.

The labor ministry is conducting a nationwide targeted inspection from July 15 through Aug. 14 covering 14 small and medium-sized hospitals that received multiple harassment reports over the previous three years.

Inha University Hospital sought consulting because of turnover among new nurses. Samyook Busan Hospital said a previous consulting program substantially reduced turnover after it revised nursing work schedules and improved organizational culture.

Jeong Eun-kyeong, minister of health and welfare, said, "A workplace where health workers, including nurses, are respected leads directly to patient safety."

Kim Young-hoon, the labor minister, said, "It must never happen that the precious hands that save patients are harassed at work and left without protection."