Starbucks Korea under fire for mishandling sexual harassment

A Starbucks Coffee location / Korea Times file

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Starbucks Coffee Korea CEO David Song / Courtesy of Starbucks Korea

Starbucks Coffee Korea has come under fire for allegedly mishandling complaints from an employee who claimed her male coworker had sexually harassed her in the workplace.

The employee in her 20s began work in 2018 as a barista at a Starbucks location in Jongno-gu, Seoul. She said her coworker harassed her three times in February, which included inappropriately touching her thigh.

After she reported the incidents, Starbucks Korea management ignored her complaints and allowed the alleged offender to continue working with her instead of promptly separating the two.

“I made it clear that I feel unsafe and uncomfortable alongside him, but nothing happened to him afterwards. It doesn't look like Starbucks Korea considers sexual misconduct a serious matter,” the female employee told local broadcaster SBS.

According to Starbucks' manual on handling workplace sexual harassment, the company must separate the complainant from the alleged harasser immediately after the case is reported. But Starbucks Korea did not follow the internal guidelines.

Starbucks Korea admitted there were some errors in handling the case, but explained the company had tried to separate the two by changing their work schedules.

“We conducted an internal investigation after which we took immediate action, changing their work schedules and sending them on vacation so they didn't have to face each other,” a Starbucks Korea official said.

“But we failed to prevent them from working together three days until the alleged harasser was suspended on March 4 for another sexual misconduct case that occurred in January.”

According to Starbucks Korea, the alleged harasser was under another sexual misconduct investigation following an incident in January at another coffee chain and was found guilty. After the January incident, the offender lost his store manager title and was transferred to another location.

Meanwhile, the female employee, who still works at a Starbucks location in Jongno-gu, filed a legal complaint against the alleged offender and the police started an investigation.

“We take these types of accusations seriously, but we are unable to discuss them in detail because this involves pending litigation,” the official said. “It's hard to say whether we will terminate the store employee, but we will fully cooperate with police.”