HYBE discovered “following” an ADOR female employee into her home late at night

Article: ADOR, “HYBE followed a female employee into her home late at night.. illegal audit at the level of intimidation..”

Source: Sports Chosun

ADOR, headed by Min Hee-jin, is raising issues regarding the audit from parent company, HYBE.

On the 10th, ADOR’s legal representative, Sejong Law Firm stated in an official statement, “Ahead of ADOR’s board of directors meeting to be held today, ADOR staff are suffering from an illegal audit into the early morning based on unreasonable issues raised by HYBE’s audit team. Something unpleasant happened.”

“HYBE’s audit team began auditing ADOR’s style directing team leader around 7pm on the 9th after work hours were over. The audit lasted over 5 hours, until past midnight on the 10th and eventually followed the staff into her home, stealing not only her laptop but also her personal cell phone that did not belong to the company. They conducted an audit that went beyond the scope of duties, including making demands. In addition, they abused their authority as auditors by making very serious threats such as “if you don’t cooperate you will have to go to the police station.” This is an unreasonable act that puts psychological pressure on our staff. Despite the fact that the schedule was discussed early in the morning, the coercive audit was a clear obstruction of business.”

“Although the content was agreed upon between the parties through a rational decision making process, HYBE suddenly took issue with this yesterday and not only conducted an unreasonable audit but also followed the female staff into her home late at night after 10pm. They committed acts that are beyond common sense and cannot be done in a normal company, such as forcing someone to sign a consent form to use a laptop. Despite the fact that there are no problems with the procedures and contents, the claim that ‘circumstances of embezzlement by breach of trust are clear’ are in themselves inconclusive. HYBE management is proving itself that they have no understanding of the business and the method of this audit is also illegal, amounting to obstruction of business, coercion, and invasion of privacy.”

“The reason ADOR is taking this issue seriously is because similar to the coercive audit that was carried out on the Vice President some time ago, HYBE’s intention is to create an issue that will somehow find fault with ADOR and CEO Min Hee-jin. Currently our staff are complaining of mental pain due to anxiety. We plan to withdraw the consent to use personal information created under coercive situation of more than 5 hours and we’re also considering filing a complaint for interference with work and coercions.”

Meanwhile, ADOR’s board of directors will hold a board meeting somewhere in Seoul on the 10th. Key board members including CEO Min Hee-jin, Vice President Shin, and Creative Director Kim are expected to attend. The agenda is to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders.