The special counsel team led by Ahn Kwon-seop, which is investigating allegations that probes into Coupang were quashed and that severance pay was not paid, is conducting another search and seizure at Coupang on the 29th.
The team sent prosecutors and investigators to Coupang's headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul, to execute a search warrant today. Earlier, the team also searched Coupang-related offices on the 23rd–24th.
The team is investigating allegations that in May 2023 Coupang changed its work rules to the disadvantage of workers and did not pay money in the nature of severance pay.
Coupang is suspected of failing to fulfill its obligation to pay severance to daily workers who, having worked long periods at logistics centers, effectively fell under the category of "full-time workers." The team is looking into allegations that Coupang failed to pay a total of 15.23 million won in severance to seven daily workers.
The team is also currently investigating whether Coupang violated the Labor Standards Act, which requires an employer to obtain the consent of a labor union or a majority of workers when changing work rules to the disadvantage of employees.
At the time, Coupang changed the rule on paying severance-related money from "for daily workers who work for at least one year, only periods with fewer than 15 working hours per week are excluded" to "applies if they work for at least one year and have at least 15 working hours per week."
Accordingly, if during the period of service there was even a single day when weekly working hours were 15 or fewer, the period for calculating severance was to be recalculated starting from that day.