HYBE asked employees to sign extensive noncompete agreements upon quitting, report says

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HYBE asked employees to sign extensive noncompete agreements upon quitting, report says

Published: 22 Nov. 2024, 15:03 Updated: 22 Nov. 2024, 15:57

CHO YONG-JUN
[email protected]

HYBE headquarters in Yongsan District, central Seoul [YONHAP]

HYBE asked employees leaving the company to sign an extensive noncompete agreement, a local report said Thursday.

The entertainment giant said its move was “common practice” and the “nature of the entertainment business.”

An unspecified number of employees under HYBE’s labels, including ADOR, were asked to sign a confidential disclosure agreement upon quitting, which prohibited the employees from getting a job or cooperating with companies in the same or similar business field as HYBE for a year after quitting HYBE, according to a report from Sports Kyunghang on Thursday.

The clause also restricts employees from establishing or operating a company in the same or similar business field.

"A noncompete agreement that is as vague as the one used by HYBE is likely to be annulled by the court," Jonjae Law Group lawyer Roh Jong-eon told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Friday.

"HYBE's agreement basically bans those who leave from finding a new job."

Such an agreement, which HYBE was said to have used until recently, had the signature of HYBE's Chief Human Resources Officer Kim Joo-young, who recently became the new CEO of ADOR, the agency behind NewJeans.

Sports Kyunghang said HYBE is alleged to have asked some employees to also sign an agreement that prohibits them from starting a legal dispute against HYBE regarding matters that occurred while working for the company.

“The documents signed by those who leave have gone through legal examination and are legal,” HYBE told the Korea JoongAng Daily Friday, adding that the procedures are no different from the common practice of other companies.

HYBE also said that the one-year noncompete agreement was to prevent those who leave from “leaking company secrets” by joining a competing company.

“This is a measure that is special to the nature of the entertainment business that mainly involves content creation and other creative works.”

BY CHO YONG-JUN [[email protected]]