Amid allegations that New Jeans member Hani was bullied within her parent company, Hive, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has administratively closed a complaint regarding workplace bullying. This is because it is difficult to view Hani as a “worker under the Labor Standards Act.”

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 20th, the Seoul Western Branch of the Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office ruled that it is difficult to view Hani as a worker in a complaint filed by New Jeans fans claiming that “Hani was bullied in the workplace.”

Earlier, New Jeans’ Hani claimed during a YouTube live broadcast in September that she was told “ignore me” by a manager of another celebrity whom she met by chance in the hallway of the Hive building. Afterwards, fans filed a related complaint with the Ministry of Employment and Labor through the National Petition Center.

The Western District Court, which investigated this, explained, “Given the content and nature of the management contract that Hani signed, it is difficult to view her as a worker under the Labor Standards Act who provides labor for wages in an employer-subordinate relationship.” The reason given was that Hani and the agency, as parties to the contract, are merely performing their respective contractual obligations on an equal footing, so “it is difficult to view her as being under the direction or supervision of the agency.”

The Western District Court also stated that the fact that there are no set working hours or locations due to the nature of the singers under the agency, and that internal norms or systems applied to general employees do not apply, were also factors in the decision. They added that the court concluded that it would be difficult to view Hani as a worker under the Labor Standards Act, considering that there was a previous ruling in September 2019 that ruled that the nature of an exclusive celebrity contract is a delegation contract or an anonymous contract similar to a delegation under the Civil Act.

Meanwhile, as the related controversy continued, Hani appeared as a witness at the Environment and Labor Committee‘s state audit on the 15th of last month and explained the situation at the time.


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com