Regarding the allegation that NewJeans Hanni was “bullied” within HYBE, the Ministry of Employment and Labor concluded that it does not amount to workplace harassment, saying, “It is difficult to consider her as an employee under the Labor Standards Act.”
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According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 20th, the Seoul Western Branch of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office announced that in response to a complaint filed by NewJeans fans to the Ministry of Employment and Labor alleging that NewJeans member ‘Farm Hani’ was harassed in the workplace, “it is difficult to consider her as an employee under the Labor Standards Act, so it has been administratively closed.”
Previously, NewJeans’ Hani claimed in a YouTube live broadcast in September that while waiting in the hallway of HYBE’s office building, she greeted another celebrity and a manager who were passing by, and the manager told her to “ignore me.”
A NewJeans fan who saw the video said, “The allegations of bullying of NewJeans in HYBE must be clarified to the substantive truth,” and filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labor through the People’s Newspaper.
The Western District Office, which investigated the complaint, said, “Due to the content and nature of the management contract signed by Farm Hani, it is difficult to say that it is an employee under the Labor Standards Act who provides work for the purpose of wages in a relationship of use and subordination.”
The reason for this was that “it is difficult to say that there was direction and supervision on the part of the company, as it was only a relationship in which each party fulfilled its contractual obligations in the position of equal contracting parties.”
NewJeans Hanni, not a worker
In addition, the company cited “the fact that there are no internal norms, systems, or systems such as the company’s employment rules that apply to general employees,” “the fact that there are no fixed working hours or work locations and that it is not possible to set the clock-in/out time,” and that “the company and Farm Hani jointly bear the expenses necessary for entertainment activities.”
It also pointed out that “it is difficult to consider that the amount paid is the subject of the work itself due to the nature of profit sharing”, that “each person pays taxes and pays business income tax instead of earned income tax”, and that “it can be considered that the person bears risks such as making profits and causing losses through entertainment activities”.
Finally, referring to the Supreme Court’s September 2019 ruling that the nature of an exclusive contract for an entertainer is an anonymous contract similar to a delegation contract or delegation under the Civil Code, the Western District Office reiterated that it is difficult to consider an employee under the Labor Standards Act.
In the meantime, the prevailing view was that celebrities were not employees subject to the Labor Standards Act, which prohibits workplace harassment such as bullying.
Article 76(2) of the Labor Standards Act prohibits workplace harassment as “inflicting physical or mental pain on other workers or worsening the working environment beyond the appropriate scope of work by taking advantage of one’s position or relationship in the workplace.”
In order to be eligible for this, you must be an employee under the Labor Standards Act, but not only the courts but also the government ruled in 2010 that entertainers are “exceptions” who work under an exclusive contract with an agency rather than as workers.
However, after NewJeans Hanni testified as a reference at the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee’s audit of the National Assembly, the ruling and opposition parties claimed that artists’ “workerhood” is not legally guaranteed, and demanded that the system be supplemented for blind spots in the labor law, so attention is focused on whether supplementary measures will be prepared.
Koreans’ views on the decision of the Ministry of Labor
- ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋᄏ Worker Cosplay
- Clear answers that fit the legal principles
- A celebrity who earns 5.2 billion a year denounces workplace harassment on behalf of South Korean workers? Ha ha
- It’s just a slap in the face to the manager by NewJeans. The manager should sue Hani.
- In the first place, the topic of the commission was “workers outside the labor law”, but the people who giggle that they are not workers are not protected by the law, so they went to the National Assembly, but that doesn’t change the fact that HYBE killed and harassed NewJeans
- It’s a natural consequence, how can a 20-year-old kid who comes out with more than 10 million won in luxury goods when he goes to the National Assembly with 5 billion in money is a worker? The company spent tens of billions of dollars to raise it and make it a success, so it’s a slap in the face, apart from not liking Bang Si-hyuk, isn’t this a rational decision, if you want to be treated as a worker, go to work at 9 a.m., leave at 6 a.m., and work for the minimum hourly salary?
