SM Entertainment employees were reportedly forced to resign and were fired to support Lee Soo Man
Since the start of the battle between HYBE and Kakao for SM Entertainment’s largest shareholder, many employees have responded and shown that most of them are opposed to HYBE’s acquisition.
On March 10, the Chosun Biz news agency announced that they had spoken to several employees (some former employees) of SM Entertainment, who revealed that they had started asking the National Labor Relations Commission for help about unfair and illegal treatment.
According to the outlet, employees who showed their support for Lee Soo Man were put on “standby” (standby employees) and told to quit.
Kwon Young-min, who was in charge of Lee Soo Man’s business support in SM’s communications production unit, was put on hold on the 13th of last month.
Kwon announced that he has been invited to accompany Lee Soo Man on his business trip to the United States through early January this year. But very soon after, just as the friction between Lee Soo Man and the current SM leadership surfaced, the General Secretariat staff received cool reactions.
Many of them received no reviews or annual bonuses, let alone the entire 19th floor of SM Entertainment, with the exception of a general hall and a general meeting room, which were closed.
This floor housed the offices of some of the employees who worked with Lee Soo Man (this floor also housed Lee Soo Man’s office).
Another staff member of the General Secretariat, “A”, said: “There has never been a case of secretarial staff being put on hold because the manager who managed them left the company.
The company claims that we all had a choice to be transferred to another office, but we ended up being “put on hold” without proper explanation, which I believe violates my rights as an employee. . »
There have also been instances where employees have been advised to resign. According to a manager of SM, “B”, he received a direct proposal from the management of “Cut ties with Lee Soo Man and stay with the company or leave the company”.
B, who felt management’s request was inappropriate, left SM in the middle of last month.
A manager who refused to accept the move from SM Entertainment would have been fired for going against the agency’s current management idea.
Lee Sung Soo and Tak Young Joon had asked employees in managerial or managerial positions to sign and agree to a statement against Lee Soo Man, but he refused.
According to an SM subsidiary “Most in senior or managerial positions received no clear explanation of what was going on other than media reports, but suddenly management demanded that everyone sign a joint statement.
Most of them probably gave in to the pressure and signed as there weren’t many options. »
Of the 26 directors at the center, Mr. C. was the only one to voice his opposition, and he was fired on the morning of the day he was asked to sign the endorsement for management’s second statement supporting Kakao’s takeover bid may be.
On the other hand, companies that allegedly forced employees to quit without good reason or put employees “on hold” could face repercussions for violating labor laws.
