Civil group to file suit against Coupang over blacklist allegations

A civic group urges for special labor supervision on Coupang over accusations the company created a blacklist to manage who could be rehired for its warehouse jobs on Feb. 19. [Yonhap]

A civic group said Wednesday it will file a collective suit against retail giant Coupang over suspicions the company kept a blacklist of people it does not want to hire again.

The civic group, dubbed the task force for Coupang workers' health, labor and human rights, said it has been in touch with some 80 victims from the blacklist so far, with plans to file the collective suit within this month.

Coupang, the country's leading e-commerce company, has been under fire over accusations it has managed a blacklist of people to stop them from being rehired to work in their warehouses, including their personal information and their reason for resigning from the job.

Kim Joon-ho, who is one of the whistle-blowers of the alleged blacklist, said he was trained to exclude certain people who received a low mark on the performance evaluation from being hired during his time working at the Coupang Fulfillment Service from 2022 to 2023.

The civic group claimed the person in charge of the list is a Coupang staffer, citing the website domain, which is an intranet that only the company's human resources team could access, and the web address embodying the term "blacklist" at the end.

The group also called on Coupang to stop suppressing the whistle-blowers and threatening the press, while urging the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission to protect the complainants.

Yonhap