Coupang did not accept a recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that it should not exclude foreign nationals from its hiring process for delivery workers.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) disclosed on the 26th that Coupang did not accept the recommendation. According to the NHRC, the petitioner applied in 2022 to be a Coupang delivery driver, but on the day of the driving test was rejected from hiring for being a foreign national.
Coupang cited as reasons for excluding foreign nationals from delivery driver hiring that communication is not easy and that it is unfamiliar for them to grasp Korea's geographic characteristics and housing environment, making it difficult to perform the job. Coupang also said it needs to protect jobs for domestic workers and that the legal, operational and economic burdens it would bear for violations of the Immigration Act would be very large.
However, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found that Coupang's refusal to hire foreign nationals as delivery drivers was "discrimination." As grounds, it cited: ▲ that delivery work conducted non-face-to-face does not require advanced language skills ▲ that, because delivery workers must obtain a domestic driver's license and pass Coupang's driving test, they are fully capable of performing the job ▲ and that restricting foreign nationals' job opportunities from the outset on the grounds of prioritizing quality jobs for our citizens is hard to deem reasonable.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said that Coupang Logistics Service, Coupang's delivery-focused subsidiary, has said it has no plans to implement the NHRC's recommendations.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) explained that after the recommendation, Coupang has hired some foreign nationals but has no plans to expand hiring across the board, and therefore it determined the recommendation was not accepted and decided to disclose the related details.