Amid the conflict between HYBE and ADOR, CEO Min Hee Jin's side accused the parent company of illegal auditing after stalking and harassing a female employee in her home.
On May 10, Min Hee Jin's legal representative, Shin & Kim Law Firm, stated that they would be filing an additional lawsuit against HYBE after ADOR's style directing team leader was subjected to an illegal audit.
According to the lawyers:
"HYBE audit team began auditing ADOR's style director at 7 p.m. KST on the 9th, after work hours were over, and the audit continued for over 5 hours, until midnight on the 10th."
What was concerning here was that HYBE allegedly stalked the employee to her house to continue the auditing after work hours, not to mention that she was harassed to turn over her notebook and personal cell phone that wasn't from the company.
Here, the employee was threatened that if she did not cooperate, they would directly go to the police station and pin her for embezzlement with alleged "evidence" they found against her.
Due to the experience, the ADOR employee is currently suffering anxiety and mental health issues after the psychological pressure she suffered from HYBE's audit team.
When this issue arose, the legal team of ADOR then clarified HYBE's claims one by one.
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Starting with the alleged embezzlement evidence against the style director, the lawyer refuted this, saying:
"Internal members were originally in charge of styling when filming the group NewJeans advertisements. But in 2023, the group received more advertisements than expected, and as the number of ongoing tasks other than advertisements increased, they came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to carry out all advertising styling tasks internally."
They added:
"From 2024, we have revised the work process and have concluded that styling for commercial filming will be carried out through outsourced personnel, and this was already shared with HYBE's HR and ER departments in February.
What HYBE is currently taking issue with is that internal members receive the amount that advertisers will pay to freelancers instead of receiving incentives from ADOR. However, no embezzlement can be established, contrary to HYBE's claim, because there was no financial damage to ADOR. The related matters can be easily confirmed through the records of personnel-related work provided by HYBE as a shared service."
As a counterattack, ADOR will sue HYBE for threats, violation of privacy and obstruction. To avoid media play, ADOR also plans to withdraw consent to use the employee's private information gathered under a coercive audition that lasted for more than 5 hours.
READ MORE: Min Hee Jin Denies HYBE's Claim She Tried to Seize Management Rights of ADOR: 'It Is Impossible'
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
