A month after she testified on workplace harassment in front of the Labour Committee of South Korea’s National Assembly, NewJeans’ Hanni was told that she is ineligible for workplace harassment protections provided by the Labour Standards Act.
On 20 November, the Seoul Regional Office of Employment and Labour announced it had closed its investigation into the case that was first filed by the singer’s fans, saying that Hanni is not classified as an employee under the law.
“We closed the case because it is difficult to deem her an employee defined by the Labour Standards Act,” the office said.
It stated that Hanni does not meet the criteria as a subordinate with her agency ADOR as their contract agreement is between “two equal parties”.
In this instance, the singer paid her taxes as business income instead of salary, was not subject to the same rules as company staff, has no fixed working hours or a specific location, and received a share of profits rather than wages among others.
Back in October, the Vietnamese-Australian singer, who was called to give evidence following NewJeans’ allegations against HYBE about the treatment they received following the dismissal of their mentor and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin, revealed that the aforementioned agency has been undermining them as a group and ignoring her.
(Photo Source: Hanni fanpage IG, JoongAng Daily)