Money truly can’t buy class.
Yesterday, a Korean Air heiress infamous for treating employees terribly was summoned by South Korea’s immigration officials after allegations emerged that she had illegally hired Filipinos as domestic workers.
Cho Hyun-ah (aka Heather Cho), daughter of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho, reported to authorities in Seoul yesterday with her head down, apologizing as she entered the Immigration office, AFP reported.
She will be questioned for allegedly hiring anywhere from 10 to 20 Filipinos to work in their family home as domestic workers. Her mother, Lee Myung-hee, is said to have also been involved in the recruitment and will be questioned as well.
South Korea’s laws prohibit the hiring of foreigners as domestic workers, so Cho Hyun-ah allegedly documented the Filipinos as Korean Air trainees instead to secure them visas.
And if the past controversies that have followed Cho Hyun-ah and her family are any indication, it looks like she’d be a nightmare to work for.
While riding first class in a Korean Air flight scheduled to leave from New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport in 2014, she allegedly forced the plane’s cabin crew chief to kneel and beg her forgiveness after a flight attendant served her macadamia nuts in a bag and not on a plate.
Her outrageous demands did not stop there. She also had the plane go back to the gate to kick the cabin crew chief off the plane.
The incident has since been known as “nut rage” or “nutgate.”
Cho Hyun-ah was sentenced to a year in prison but only served five months.
Her sister Cho Hyun-min does not seem to be any better.
Earlier this month, it was alleged that she had thrown a glass of plum juice at a business associate during a meeting.
Apart from the issue involving illegally recruited Filipinos, the Cho family is also suspected of verbally abusing and assaulting their employees, smuggling furniture and food, and evading taxes, AFP reported.
Korean Air employees have been protesting the family’s behavior since the beginning of this month and have also started an online forum where they share the family’s other alleged violations.
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