Supreme Court eases duty-room rule to allow remote court standby shifts

The Supreme Court said Monday it has revised its court duty and emergency service rules to allow courts to run standby duty shifts from home. The revision, which took effect the same day it was published, writes remote standby duty into the definition of duty service, no longer limiting it to overnight staff; day-shift workers may also perform standby duty from home.

Courts that do not handle warrants or provisional measures and that adopt remote standby duty may skip the requirement to set up and run a duty room, the court said. Those exempted courts may instead place a duty telephone at a location designated by the head of the institution.

Remote standby workers are exempted from wearing identification badges, and references to a workplace area now include the location from which remote duty is performed. The rule was issued as Supreme Court Rule No. 3288 and published under Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae.

The court said it revised the rules to raise the efficiency of duty and emergency response operations by allowing courts to introduce and run remote standby duty actively and flexibly in line with each court's functions, size and working conditions. Courts must still staff duty shifts and respond to emergencies, and those that continue to handle warrants and provisional measures still need a duty room.