Newzins Hani, workplace bullying 'disapproval'..."It's hard to see you as a worker".

ⓒYonhap News Agency

Regarding allegations that a member of the girl group New Jeans was "tackled" within the Hive, the Ministry of Employment and Labor concluded that it was not a bullying in the workplace, saying, "It is difficult to be seen as a worker under the Labor Standards Act."

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 20th, the Seoul Western Office of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office said, "We closed the administration because it was difficult to see Newzins member "Palhani" as a worker under the Labor Standards Act."

Earlier in September, New Jeans Hani said on a YouTube live broadcast that while waiting in the hallway of Hive's office building, another group manager in Hive saw him and said, "Ignore you," and claimed that he was being ostracized within the agency.

Afterwards, Hive said that the manager Hani mentioned was the manager of the girl group Eyelet, belonging to Bilibrap (a label under Hive), and Bilibrap countered that Hani's claim was not true after CCTV and investigation of the person concerned.

In response, a Newzins fan filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labor through a national newspaper, saying, "The actual truth should be revealed about the allegations of Newzins bullying in Hive."

"Due to the content and nature of the management contract signed by Farmhani, it is difficult to say that it is a worker under the Labor Standards Act, which provides work for wages in relation to use and subordination," the Western District Office said in response to the complaint. "It is difficult to say that there was a command and supervision of the management as it is only a relationship that fulfills its contractual obligations in the position of equal contracting parties."

ⓒYTN

In addition, "in-house norms, systems, or systems, such as corporate employment rules that apply to general employees, are not applied," "There are no fixed working hours or places to work, and commuting hours cannot be set," and "the company and Farmhani jointly paid for entertainment activities."

also cited "the fact that the amount paid is the nature of the distribution of profits and is difficult to see as the subject of the work itself," "the fact that each person pays taxes and pays business income taxes rather than earned income taxes," and "the fact that they can be considered to have risks such as profit creation and loss through entertainment activities."

At the same time, he also mentioned the Supreme Court's ruling in September 2019 that the nature of the exclusive contract for entertainers falls under an anonymous contract similar to a delegation contract or delegation under civil law. Until now, the prevailing view was that celebrities are not workers subject to the Labor Standards Act, which stipulates the prohibition of bullying in the workplace.

Article 76 (2) of the Labor Standards Act prohibits "actions that cause physical and mental pain or deteriorate the working environment to other workers beyond the proper scope of work by using superiority in position or relationship at work" as bullying at work. To be subject to this, you must be a worker under the Labor Standards Act, and following the court, the government in 2010 judged that celebrities were "exceptional persons" who signed exclusive contracts with agencies rather than workers.

However, after Hani appeared as a reference at the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee's parliamentary audit and testified about workplace harassment, the ruling and opposition parties demanded that the system be supplemented, saying, "The artist's 'workerhood' is not legally guaranteed."

Reporter Lee Yu Na from Digital News Team.