RUMOR 143 Ent involved in unpaid fees and wages controversy

[RussianRoulette]

I originally found this article via Nugu Promoter on twitter.

An unnamed agency, which is heavily implied to be 143 Ent, is currently in legal trouble due to unpaid production fees and unpaid wages.

143 Ent is Madein and IKON's current label. Currently, 143 Ent has been facing heat due to abuse towards the members of Madein.

143 Ent is currently being accused of unpaid wages towards at least 40 workers and not paying music video production fees for Madein's debut MV's UNO back in September. The MV company is claiming 143 has not paid the production fees and it's been over 3 months.

Additionally. they are being accused of terrible working conditions for the music video. The MV was filmed back on August 12-14th during the heat of the summer. The MV production began at 7am on the 12th and didn't stop until 7am on the 13th. There was then a break gap for a few hours and MV production began again from 3pm on the 13th till 9pm on the 14th. The workers were forced to work over 41 hours over the course of 3 days and 2 nights, and employees had to continue pull more over-nighters until the MV was finished and released in September.

When Madein's MV was released, it was embroiled in controversy due to it's use of AI, forcing 143 to release a new version of the MV. Due to the money loss on the first MV, 143 said they had to delay paying the production company and had to request additional work from the production company to make the 2nd version of the MV.

The production company is trying to get the tens of thousands of won 143 owes them along with additional payment for the 2nd version of the MV that had to be made on short notice.

143 Ent is refusing to pay for the second MV, claiming it was a "repair" to the original MV which was "damaged" and they are arguing for a reduced payment on everything due to the MV needing to be "repaired". They are also claiming breach of contract from the production company.

The production company brought this issue of the unpaid fee of the MV video production, and the unpaid wages for the 40 workers, to The Hanbit Media Labor Rights Center which works to protect the rights of workers in unstable labor throughout the broadcasting media industry and to improve the broadcasting production environment.

When the Hanbit center reached out to 143, they got this statement from a company executive:​

We tried to negotiate to share the risk ( with the production company ) regarding contract breach, quality, and such, but it fell through. ” When asked whether the specific contract breach or payment adjustment was based on the contract and was legally correct, they replied, “ Those things aren’t specifically stated in the contract ,” and “( The legal part ) should go to court and be judged there. I’m not saying that’s appropriate for us according to the contract . ” In addition, when asked whether there would be a part where the performance would be shared if the results are good, when demanding a share of the losses due to quality issues, they said, “There isn’t such a part,” and despite this, they repeatedly claimed “breach of contract” as the groundless reason for having to bear the losses.​

Additionally, The CEO of 143 ent (this is the person who SA-ed Gaeun btw), threatened staff with the unpaid wages issue stating they were not legally related and shouldn't bring it up.

This part i'm a bit confused about, but it appears the staff made a group chat urging the two companies to work things out. When suggested to make a group chat between the companies, the CEO threatened to file a criminal defamation lawsuit against them if they tried and claimed the workers had no reason to talk to the other company due to their contract.

As of right now 143 Ent is asking for a 25% reduction of the production fees. It appears it is the production company's job to pay the employees, they can't do so without being paid by 143 first. 143 is currently being seen as the unfair party due to them stalling payment and asking for a fee reduction while fully knowing many people are waiting to get paid.

The article finished off by saying 143's current case is unparalleled due to them owing hundreds of millions of won to the production company, and due to the large amount of people not being paid. What 143 is doing is also apparently considered workplace bullying due to:

- 143 claiming the payment is not based on a contract and the burden of damage is should be passed on without any promise to share the results
- Demanding payment adjustments at an unreasonable level while based on the results of the service
- Threatening to sue their staff for defamation on the grounds that there is no legal contract against the staff who are urging for a legitimate solution to the problem


They also said 143 must immediately pay the amount due according to the contract, and the situation in which the labor rights of the staff who worked in relation to the contract are violated due to Company A's arbitrary judgment and unilateral claims must not continue..

Article Source

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[tokki]

burn the whole company down atp

i wonder how many other issues there have been with 143 in the past that just never got brought to the public tbh...

 

[RussianRoulette]

burn the whole company down atp

i wonder how many other issues there have been with 143 in the past that just never got brought to the public tbh...

Has 143 been around for awhile or are they new?

I thought limelight was their first group?

 

[tokki]

Has 143 been around for awhile or are they new?

I thought limelight was their first group?

i think they opened in like 2020 or 2021, but limelight is their first group yeah

i think some of the higher ups in the company have been around in entertainment for quite a while though in other companies, and i know that dm/digital masta (co-ceo and the person accused of SA) was an artist himself before as part of a duo under YGE

 

[RussianRoulette]

i think they opened in like 2020 or 2021, but limelight is their first group yeah

i think some of the higher ups in the company have been around in entertainment for quite a while though in other companies, and i know that dm/digital masta (co-ceo and the person accused of SA) was an artist himself before as part of a duo under YGE

I didn’t know that about DM, the fact that IKON signed under him makes a lot more sense now.