The Committee for Countermeasures Against Overwork Deaths of Delivery Workers and the family of the deceased, Jung Seul-gi, held a press conference in front of Coupang’s headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jun. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Allegations of death by overwork have surfaced following the passing of a 40-year-old delivery driver who had been working for Coupang’s late-night Rocket Delivery service.
On June 27, the Committee for Countermeasures Against Overwork Deaths of Delivery Workers and the family of the deceased, Jung Seul-gi, held a press conference in front of Coupang’s headquarters in Songpa-gu, Seoul. They claimed that Jung, who worked for Coupang CLS’s Namyangju 2 Camp G Agency, died from overwork.
According to the committee, Jung, who had been working as a Coupang QuickFlex driver since March of last year, collapsed at his home in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, on May 28.
He was rushed to the hospital but did not survive. The hospital reported the cause of death as ventricular fibrillation and suspected myocardial infarction, which the committee described as cardiovascular diseases typically associated with overwork-related deaths.
Jung typically worked from 8:30 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. the following day, approximately 10 hours and 30 minutes daily, six days a week. His average weekly working hours were 63 hours, or 77 hours when accounting for a 30% night shift premium.
The committee argued that the death had been caused by Coupang’s Rocket Delivery system.
They explained that according to the contract between Coupang CLS and its agencies, failure to complete deliveries by 7 a.m. could result in the termination of the agency’s contract or the revocation of delivery zones.
The committee also challenged Coupang’s previous stance that deceased delivery drivers were not direct employees. They released KakaoTalk chat logs showing that Jung received direct work instructions from Coupang CLS employees.
Jung Geum-seok, Jung’s father (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Jung’s father, Jung Geum-seok, who attended the press conference, shared his grief: “My son complained that his knees were wearing out. As a father, my heart is torn when I think of my son describing himself as ‘working like a dog’.
The tyranny of a company that doesn’t treat people as human beings drove my son to his death.”
In response, Coupang stated, “The working hours and workload of delivery drivers are determined through agreement between the delivery agency and the driver.”
They added, “Coupang CLS requires delivery agencies to manage drivers according to the standard working days and hours specified in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s standard contract to ensure that the workload is not excessive.”
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
