Startup that texted “You’re hired” then canceled four minutes later... Court rules it an unfair dismissal

[The Financial News] A court has ruled that sending a text message saying an applicant has passed the hiring process and then, four minutes later, sending another message canceling the hiring without any explanation constitutes an unfair dismissal.
According to the legal community on the 2nd, Administrative Division 13 of the Seoul Administrative Court, presided over by Judge Jin Hyun-seop, ruled against fintech startup Company A in a lawsuit it filed seeking to overturn a remedial re-review decision on an unfair hiring cancellation.
In 2024, while recruiting a manager in charge of global fintech service strategy and business development, Company A interviewed applicant B twice and then sent a text message stating, “We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted. You may start work from next Monday.” However, just four minutes later, Company A sent B another text message saying, “We will cancel the hiring.”
B filed for relief with the Seoul Regional Labor Relations Commission, claiming the cancellation was unjust, and the commission accepted the claim. Company A, disagreeing with the outcome, requested a re-review from the National Labor Relations Commission, arguing that it was a workplace with fewer than five regular employees and therefore not subject to the Labor Standards Act. It also contended that, because the arrangement with B was for hiring a professional manager, no employment contract could be deemed to have been formed. When the Central Labor Commission rejected these arguments, Company A brought the case before the administrative court.
The court also found no fault with the Central Labor Commission’s re-review decision and sided with B.
The panel first determined that Company A’s subsidiary shared the same office and employed overlapping personnel, and on that basis found that the total number of regular employees was at least 16. It held that they constituted a single business unit that was managed as an integrated and organically connected enterprise.
The court further pointed out that, even if B was being hired as a professional manager, it was difficult to see that B had been granted broad authority over major personnel decisions, or that B was to receive treatment clearly differentiated from that of ordinary employees.
The court stated, “By going through the hiring process and notifying B of acceptance or a tentative hiring decision, Company A had already formed an employment relationship between the two parties,” and added, “Once an employment relationship has been formed, canceling the hiring requires meeting the conditions for dismissal set out in the Labor Standards Act.” It went on to point out, “Because Company A did not provide written notice of the reasons and timing for dismissal as required under Article 27 of the Labor Standards Act, this constitutes an unfair dismissal.”
theknight@fnnews.com Jung Kyung-soo Reporter