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Ministry of Labor rules NewJeans’ Hanni's bullying accusations DON’T fall under workplace harassment; Know why
NewJeans’ Hanni’s bullying claims have been dismissed as workplace harassment. The Ministry of Labor in South Korea explained why. Read on!
Two months ago, NewJeans’ Hanni landed in the headlines after claiming she had faced bullying within HYBE. During a bombshell livestream, the K-pop idol accused ILLIT’s manager of asking the group to ignore her instead of greeting her. This revelation caused quite a stir and she was summoned to the National Assembly to testify.
According to the reports on November 20, the Seoul Western District Office of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office closed the case administratively citing that the allegations do not qualify as workplace harassment. The conclusion was based on the fact that Hanni does not meet the criteria of an employee at ADOR under the Labor Standards Act.
The labor office added that based on the nature of her management contract, her work does not fall under a subordinate relationship for wages. They also went on to explain that for it to qualify as a workplace bullying case, the perpetrator must exploit the position of authority or at least have a hierarchical relationship within the workplace. However, it turned out that both the NewJeans member and the manager who was accused of bullying her share an equal contractual agreement with the company.
The Ministry of Labor listed several reasons why Hanni’s bullying claims couldn’t be qualified as workplace harassment. They elaborated that she does not meet the criteria of fixed working hours or locations as an employee and the payments she received were considered more as profit-sharing than wages for her labor. They also included that there are shared financial burdens between Hanni and the company for budgets associated with her entertainment activities and that she also bears the risk of profit or loss from them.
The labor office additionally noted that the NewJeans member pays business income tax rather than employee income tax. These few reasons have prevented her allegations to qualify as workplace harassment.
The Supreme Court ruling from 2019 was also referenced to determine this, where celebrity exclusive contracts are mandated agreements under civil law, and unnamed contracts are also similar. This bill further reinforced the labor’s office decision of not considering Hanni as an employee of HYBE under the Labor Standards Act.
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