Shinsegae chief cleared of E-mart labor abuses

Labor authorities on Monday cleared Shinsegae Group vice chairman Chung Yong-jin of suspicions of illegal surveillance and other abuses of employees at the group’s discount store arm E-mart.

The Seoul Regional Employment and Labor Office referred to the prosecution 14 E-mart officials, including former chief executive Choi Byung-ryul, wrapping up a six-month investigation into allegations that the management interfered with union activities last year.

Chung and incumbent CEO Heo In-cheol were not included on the list.

Three other individuals from partner companies including a consultancy were also sent to the prosecution.

In January, civic groups filed a complaint with the prosecution and the labor office, accusing the nation’s largest discount chain of expropriating employees’ resident registration numbers to check whether they had joined its labor union.

“They were found to have engaged in systemic maneuvers against the labor union,” Kwon Hyeuk-tae, director of the Seoul labor office, told reporters.

The agency questioned 135 officials, including Chung and Heo, and conducted six raids of the retail giant. The company went through a 40-day special labor relations inspection early this year.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)