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| Market Kurly founder and CEO Sophie Kim speaks during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Seoul, in this 2019 file photo. Yonhap |
By Kim Jae-heun
Local grocery delivery firm Market Kurly has come under fire for blacklisting temporary workers at its logistics centers and allegedly dismissing ones who were labelled as troublemakers.
According to an investigative report by Kyunghyang Shinmun, a vernacular daily, managers at Market Kurly's distribution centers allegedly formed a blacklist of workers they said showed poor performance or caused problems at worksites and fired them.
At least 500 names have reportedly been found to be on the blacklist and the managers shared this with five employment agencies to prevent the workers from finding other jobs.
Market Kurly said it only collected the names of lazy workers aiming to discontinue their employment contracts. But the workers said mangers used the list as a tool to dismiss those they found to be annoying.
A 29-year-old worker said on condition of anonymity that he was blacklisted for leaving work early two times, even though he went through official procedures and received permission from the firm.
He claimed that he was dismissed from his job because he raised a complaint to headquarters last August citing wrongdoings by some managers, such as using foul language, making sexually-harassing remarks and forcing workers to fix dates for them.
Market Kurly said it found out about the issue last February, but added that the company was not involved in the alleged acts. In the meantime, Market Kurly's headquarters immediately ordered managers to stop collecting the names of workers who had lost credibility, while the main office took over the management of staff at its logistics centers.
"The worker in question clashed with colleagues and did not follow orders from managers while leaving work without notice. So we did not allocate him to any duty and this cannot be seen as unfair dismissal," a Market Kurly official was quoted as saying in a report.
A number of workers at one Market Kurly logistics center saw mice running around the worksite. There were complaints made through internal channels related to hygiene issues, but no one brought up the matter officially.
A whistle blower said mice had been seen nibbling on products and leaving excrement at one logistics center, but did not mention the city in which it was located. "Workers were told not to eat anything inside the facility and send pictures of the place to people in charge after cleaning up every day," the whistle blower was quoted as saying.
Market Kurly denied the allegation.
"The temperature inside the logistics center is quite low for mice to live in. Also, if mice damage products, the company has to take immediate action as it can lead to a big problem. We outsourced sanitation services to the specialist company CESCO last year and another firm is sterilizing our facilities regularly as of this year," a Market Kurly official said.
The grocery delivery firm claimed it is not illegal to have a blacklist. It said the managers only collected the names of workers who showed poor work ethics and stressed the company never used it to prevent them from finding jobs at other company.
Article 40 of Korea's Labor Standards Act only bans an employer from limiting staff from getting a job at a different firm. Yoon Ji-young of the Human Rights Law Foundation said any act that prevents a worker's seeking of employment is a Labor Law violation.
"For a temporary worker at Market Kurly who's been working with the firm for quite a long time, disrupting him from finding a job at another place can cause great damage," Yoon added.
