"An Employee on a Business Trip Abroad Spent 8 Million Won Without Working... The Employee Resigned, But Do I Still Have to Pay Severance?" [What Do You Think?]

[Financial News] The story of a startup CEO struggling after an employee went on a business trip abroad, did no work, and squandered 8 million won of company funds on travel expenses has been made public.
On the 25th, Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company (JTBC)'s 'Case Chief' introduced the story of Mr. A, a startup CEO in his 40s.
Mr. A explained, "Our company was about to launch its first project. Since the main task was to meet with overseas partners, I sent B, a second-year employee fluent in English, to Paris, France."
The plan was for B to prepare the project with local contacts in Paris, and then Mr. A would travel to Paris in October to finalize the work.
However, at the end of September, Mr. A received a call from the French contact saying, "B is not doing any work."
Mr. A said, "It turned out that B was traveling abroad without arranging any business meetings. B spent 8 million won of company funds on travel over the course of a month."
He continued, "After that day, B decided to resign, and now I am in a situation where I might have to pay severance in addition to the travel expenses. B still insists there was no wrongdoing. I didn't ask for meetings to be held, just to schedule them. Was that such a difficult task?" he lamented.
Attorney Park Ji-hoon, who heard the story, commented, "This seems to be a fundamental problem. Anyone, not just the CEO, would have pointed out the issue since the employee went to arrange meetings but ended up arranging travel instead."
Attorney Jiyoul Yang added, "It wasn't as if the employee was told to just try anything; there was a local contact and specific tasks. I suspect the employee intended to quit and just traveled around. This isn't just a matter of scolding—it's such an absurd situation that it could even be considered embezzlement."
newssu@fnnews.com Kim Su-yeon Reporter