"Are You Kidding Me, XXX?"... Semiconductor Company Employee Abusing and Assaulting Industrial Technical Personnel

The company states, "Due to staff shortage, we inevitably cannot comply with working hours"

At a semiconductor company in Cheongju, Chungbuk, an employee swung a stick while forcing industrial technical personnel to kneel. Photo by SBS.

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] A controversy has erupted as industrial technical personnel, who serve as substitutes for military service in small and medium-sized enterprises, claimed they were frequently subjected to verbal abuse and physical assault by company employees. It is reported that they worked over 52 hours a week without being guaranteed proper rest.

On the 19th, SBS reported that industrial technical personnel at a small semiconductor company in Cheongju, Chungbuk, were subjected to physical assault and verbal abuse.

According to the media, the offending employee repeatedly hurled verbal abuse at the industrial technical personnel via phone calls and text messages at all hours. He cursed over the phone, saying, "Are you kidding me, XXX? Are you joking? If you left a KakaoTalk message, you should check it and respond." It was also reported that the offending employee swung a stick at the industrial technical personnel who were kneeling with their hands raised.

Unable to endure further, the industrial technical personnel reported the harsh treatment to their department head last year, but the assaults continued. Although the offending employee wrote a statement, the content was not reported to the company. The statement reportedly only mentioned that "during a session to explain work, ears were grabbed, pinched, and lightly tapped with fists."

Additionally, the industrial technical personnel claimed they worked over 60 hours a week without being guaranteed proper rest time. They sometimes started work at 8:30 p.m. and finished at 8:30 a.m. the next day, and there were cases where they worked over 10 hours a day for two weeks but only had two days off. However, their employment contracts stated "40 hours per week."

Regarding this, the company explained that due to a shortage of personnel, they could not comply with the working hours.

Meanwhile, the Military Manpower Administration is reportedly planning to investigate the facts and consider measures such as restricting the allocation of industrial technical personnel to the company.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.