"70-Hour Workweeks" Confirmed... London Bagel Museum Fined 801 Million Won, Facing 5 Criminal Cases

The government conducted a special inspection of all affiliates of London Bagel Museum, where suspicions had been raised over the death of an overworked young worker, and uncovered multiple legal violations, including long working hours, unpaid wages, and industrial safety breaches.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 13th that it had carried out an approximately three-month inspection from October 29, 2025 to January 31, 2026 of 18 affiliates of LBM Co., Ltd., which operates the bakery brand London Bagel Museum. As a result, the ministry identified five criminal cases, including violations of the Labor Standards Act’s limits on overtime work, violations of the prohibition on predetermined penalties, and violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and referred them for criminal prosecution.

In addition, the ministry imposed a total of 801 million won in administrative fines for two cases, including workplace harassment and failure to provide itemized pay statements, and for 61 cases, including failure to appoint safety and health managers and failure to conduct health checkups. Separately, it confirmed that a total of 564 million won in wages, including overtime, night-work, and holiday-work allowances, had not been paid and ordered corrective measures.

In particular, during the week immediately before the opening of the Incheon branch (July 7 to 13, 2025), it was found that the deceased worker and six co-workers each worked more than 70 hours per week. Overtime work exceeding the weekly limit of 12 hours was also confirmed, and the case was referred for criminal prosecution as a violation of the Labor Standards Act.

On November 3, 2025, Green Party members are shouting slogans at a party rally regarding the death of a London Bagel Museum worker in front of the Anguk branch of the London Bagel Museum in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Yonhap News.

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In the wage payment process, excessive deductions were also uncovered, such as deducting 15 minutes of pay for being 1 minute late to work and counting time spent attending head office meetings and training sessions as annual leave. In addition, during the operation of a comprehensive wage system, it was confirmed that legal allowances and retirement pension contributions had been underpaid due to failure to pay additional allowances for overtime exceeding fixed overtime hours, undercalculation of ordinary wages, and excessive deductions.

Regarding workplace harassment, it was recognized that workers had been forced to read letters of apology during morning roll calls, and a fine of 3 million won was imposed on the perpetrator. Forcing workers to sign a confidentiality agreement requiring payment of 100 million won in the event of disclosure of critical trade secrets was also deemed a violation of the prohibition on predetermined penalties and was referred for criminal prosecution.

In the area of industrial safety, the inspection found that business sites with 50 or more regular workers had failed to appoint safety and health managers, had delayed submitting investigation reports after industrial accidents occurred, and had not conducted health examinations. Some issues, such as failure to install safety railings on kitchen stairs, improper installation of local exhaust ventilation systems, and failure to investigate risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders, were treated as criminal offenses.

In addition, guidance for improvement was provided on the overall organizational culture, including the practice of signing short-term employment contracts of 1 to 3 months, prohibiting workers from leaving the workplace during break times, and excessively demanding written statements of explanation for work-related mistakes.

This inspection was prompted by suspicions of the death of an overworked young worker that were raised in October 2025. The ministry conducted an anonymous survey of 430 employees and face-to-face interviews with 454 employees at 18 locations nationwide to examine whether labor-related laws had been violated and to review the overall organizational culture.

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Younghoon stated, "We feel a grave sense of responsibility in that the company’s rapid growth was underpinned by young people’s long hours and unpaid labor," adding, "We will expand preventive inspections to ensure that, in the pursuit of growth, there are no cases in which workers’ basic rights are violated."

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