A court has released details of a ruling that partially upholds an administrative fine against former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin, who has consistently denied workplace bullying allegations.
On April 16, Judge Jeong Cheol-min of the Seoul Western District Court largely agreed with the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office’s finding of workplace harassment, while reducing the amount of the fine. The case stems from Min’s challenge to a sanction issued by the labor office in March.
Min’s legal team told SBS Entertainment News that only two of four incidents were recognized, resulting in a reduced penalty and what they characterized as a partial win. Min has since filed an additional brief, signaling she will contest the matter in a full trial.
On the 24th, entertainment outlet Dispatch published portions of the written decision. According to the ruling, Min repeatedly used disparaging language toward an employee identified as A in a three-person KakaoTalk group chat, including terms akin to “airhead,” “dumb,” “nonsense,” “so pathetic,” “stupid,” and “grade-schooler.” At the time, A had been on the job for less than a month.
Min’s side argued the remarks were friendly, corrective guidance made in the course of work. The court disagreed, noting the record also included vulgarities and expressions of extreme frustration, which it said could not reasonably be viewed as friendly banter.
The court found Min made comments that demeaned A and violated the Labor Standards Act’s prohibition on workplace harassment. However, two of the four alleged incidents were excluded from the fine calculation due to insufficient supporting evidence, even if the reprimands may have felt hurtful.
Because Min has requested a formal trial, enforcement of the fine is temporarily on hold.
Photo: Baik Seung-Chul
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)