A labor ministry investigation has found that the operator of the popular bakery brand London Bagel Museum violated multiple labor laws, including excessive overtime, unpaid wages and workplace harassment, with authorities filing a criminal complaint against the head of the company.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Friday it conducted a special inspection of 18 outlets run by LBM, the company behind London Bagel Museum and its affiliated brands, between October and January. The probe involved anonymous surveys and face-to-face interviews with workers to determine whether labor regulations had been violated.
The ministry said LBM chief Kang Kwan-gu faces five charges, including violation of overtime limits, illegal penalty clauses and breaches of workplace safety rules. More than 60 additional violations, such as failure to issue pay statements, lack of health checkups and workplace bullying, resulted in administrative fines totaling 801 million won ($555,132).
Authorities also ordered the company to pay 564 million won in unpaid wages, including overtime pay.
The inspection followed public criticism after a 26-year-old employee who worked at one of the company’s stores died last year.
Investigators said the company docked 15 minutes of pay for one minute of lateness, and found that during the week before a store opening last July, the deceased employee and six coworkers each worked over 70 hours, far exceeding Korea’s legal weekly limit.
The ministry said some branches failed to appoint required safety and health managers and delayed reporting industrial accidents. It added that workers were forced to read apology statements in meetings and sign pledges promising up to 100 million won in damages if trade secrets were leaked.
Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said, “I feel a heavy sense of responsibility as the company’s rapid growth was built on excessive and unpaid labor by young workers. We will expand preventive inspections to ensure no company pursues growth at the expense of basic labor rights.”
