With news that former managers of broadcaster Park Narae filed a complaint with the Office of Employment and Labor alleging workplace harassment, public reaction has been divided.
According to a Channel A report on the 2nd, Park Narae's former managers submitted a complaint to the Seoul Regional Office of Employment and Labor Gangnam branch on the 18th of last month. The complaint is said to contain specific claims of harm that occurred during vehicle transfers while on duty.
According to the report, the former managers said, "We were traveling while one of us sat in the driver's seat and another in the front passenger seat, and Park Narae engaged in a specific act with a man who was riding in the back seat," and "because the vehicle is a closed space, we could not avoid the situation or leave our seats, and she used her superior position to force us to perceive unwanted scenes and sounds visually and audibly." They argue this is not a simple private deviation but workplace harassment using a superior position.
The complaint also reportedly included that "during the act the manager in the driver's seat was repeatedly kicked in the seat" and that "it was a dangerous situation that could have led to a traffic accident."
Public reaction to the exposé is sharply divided. Some have said, "If this occurred in a work space such as a vehicle, it is naturally subject to investigation," and "the matter needs further verification through investigation, but if this is true there is room to view it as workplace harassment."
On the other hand, others have criticized, "Is it appropriate to expose someone's private life like this before a legal judgment?" "The level of the exposé is excessively provocative and unpleasant," and "revealing private matters without filtration can cause further harm." In particular, critics say that mixing claims of workplace harm with revelations about private life is blurring the issue.
Legal disputes between Park Narae and her former managers are currently under way, including real estate provisional seizures, claims for damages, criminal complaints and countersuits. The former managers are claiming workplace harassment, among other things, and Park Narae is countering by accusing them of attempted extortion and embezzlement related to work.
[Photo] OSEN database, Channel A report footage capture
[OSEN]