Deceased factory worker's family sues bakery giant SPC chairman
SPC Group Chairman Heo Young-in leaves a room after a news conference at the group's headquarters in southern, Oct. 21. Yonhap
The family of a young worker who died while working at an affiliate factory of food and beverage giant SPC Group filed a complaint against the group's chairman on charges of violating the workplace safety law, their lawyer said Thursday.
The 23-year-old employee was killed on Oct. 15 after her upper body was caught in a sauce mixer at the factory affiliated with the group in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul.
The employee's family have filed a complaint against SPC Group Chairman Heo Young-in with the Ministry of Labor, for violating the so-called severe disaster law, lawyer Oh Bin-nara said in a press release.
Under the new law that took effect in January, business owners or CEOs of companies with 50 or more employees are subject to at least one year in prison or up to 1 billion won ($710,000) in fines in the event of deadly on-duty disasters caused by lax workplace safety measures.
Earlier, the labor ministry and police raided the SPC affiliate factory as part of their investigation into the death.
A boycott movement of SPC Group brands has been growing online, led by young consumers furious over a local news report saying the company ordered employees to work at the factory in question a day after the accident. (Yonhap)