There's nothing more painful about a sexual harasser and his victim than working in one place. Now that happened in Starbucks. But, it turns out that Starbucks knew about the problem and didn't act immediately, according to the SBS report.
Last February, it was a Starbucks store in Seoul. A staff in the kitchen touched the thigh of another female employee. A worker in his 20s, who is on the second year of Starbucks said that the senior employee B, who worked at the same branch, was sexually harassed three times, the media reported.
After agonizing over it, A raised the issue at the head office a week later. But there was no action after just two meetings. After the report, she had to work together with B for nearly 15 days at the same point.
This manual was obtained by SBS regarding sexual violence at Starbucks. When a sexual assault is reported, the victim should be separated from the perpetrator immediately. According to the manual, Starbucks should take a step not to overlap their working hours and send the perpetrator elsewhere from the next day.
But Starbucks didn't even follow these internal guidelines. The assailant, identified only by his surname B, left the store on March 7, 14 days after the report. The ridiculous thing was that B was not suspended because of the A case.
In the past, B was reprimanded for sexual harassment. Before the A case, he was involved in another sexual harassment, and the second sexual harassment case was not handed down until March 7.
Starbucks' response was too sloppy, even though it needed faster and more stringent measures as it repeatedly caused gender-related problems.
Starbucks said it had no choice but to do so because of the manpower situation. Meanwhile, police have launched an investigation into the A's indictment, but it has been reported that B has denied the charges.
