ADOR's CEO Kim Joo-young reportedly reopening the investigation about the s*xual harassment case of a former company employee

On September 2, 2024, Yonhap News reported that ADOR's new CEO, Kim Joo-young, decided to reopen the investigation into a s*xual harassment complaint made by a former female employee against an ADOR executive. The new CEO also decided to switch internal communications to Slack, moving away from KakaoTalk, which had caused controversies for ADOR's former CEO, Min Hee-jin, due to leaked chat screenshots during an internal audit.

Yonhap News reported that the new CEO sent emails to every ADOR employee and met with them on August 28, 2024. In the meeting, Kim Joo-young informed the employees that she would meet them frequently via meetings to provide a seamless transition. She also enquired about payment lines, salaries, and more.

"I will meet with you all in person as often as possible to discuss what is needed for smooth and reasonable work performance, how to improve, etc., and share the progress."

For the unversed, in April 2024, a former female employee of ADOR filed a complaint against an executive for workplace harassment and bullying. Min Hee-jin was accused of favoring Executive A while ignoring the victim. The former CEO referred to these assertions as distorted and claimed that the dispute was settled.

The former female employee leaked a KakaoTalk exchange in which Executive A and Min Hee-jin disparaged her. Although HYBE's investigation determined that Executive A's behavior was improper, Min Hee-jin allegedly refused to punish Executive A despite HYBE's demands.

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Min Hee-jin refuses to sign a new contract sent by ADOR's new CEO regarding production for NewJeans

On August 30, 2024, Min Hee-jin, and her legal counsel issued a statement that she was sent a new contract by HYBE and Kim Joo-young. The new agreement required Min Hee-jin to be in charge of NewJeans' creative production till November 2024.

"There are many points in the content that are difficult to understand from a common sense perspective, as it is one-sided and unreasonable when viewed as an offer to take on the producing work that was revealed through the press," Min Hee-jin said.

Min Hee-jin further mentioned that the contract is full of toxic clauses which is unfavorable to her.

"Just looking at the absurd contract period, it is clear that the claim made by the Ador board of directors that 'all decisions are the best decisions for New Jeans' was a lie and a media play. The contract for delegation of duties is full of toxic clauses that allow Ador to unilaterally terminate the contract," she continued.

For the unversed, HYBE replaced Min Hee-jin with Kim Joo-young as ADOR's new CEO on August 27, 2024. Kim Joo-young is the CHRO (Chief Human Resources Officer) of HYBE. She was previously the HR Director at Krafton. After the announcement, HYBE saw an increase in its shares by 7%.

On August 28, Min Hee-jin's legal counsel issued a press release stating that she did not resign or step down from her position as the label's CEO. They claimed that HYBE illegally terminated her contract. However, TOPDaily News reported that HYBE already submitted a 'Confirmation of Termination of Shareholder Agreement' in July 2024.

In this case, HYBE took the initiative to file a declaratory lawsuit against the defendant to get the court to rule that the termination was lawful. Generally, a contract's termination takes effect when the other party receives notice of the termination.

The opposite party (here, Min Hee-jin) may challenge the termination's unfairness by requesting a "Suspension of the Effect of Contract Termination Notice" injunction.

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Currently, Min Hee-jin has been opposing her contract termination and hasn't signed her two-month contract regarding NewJeans' production. As per the contract, if her performance seems lacking in producing NewJeans, she will be removed as the label's internal creative director.