| minna |
13th May 2010 11:47 PM |
true! I think she's improving :yes
RUMORS CONFIRMED!! :O
Quote:
The head of JYP Entertainment Jung Wook on Wednesday confirmed allegations by its former employee that their client the Wonder Girls had not been covered by health insurance since January and their $2,500 citation from the NYC Department of Buildings was, in fact, in default status.
He also revealed the group had been on student visas when they first arrived in the U.S. last April. He said the group had been registered at an undisclosed language institute as students but applied and received O-1 visas upon learning of the possible legal repercussions.
United States law states that F-1 visa holders are allowed to work part-time -- under 20 hours a week -- while still enrolled in an academic institution.
An O-1 visa is a type of employment visa under U.S. immigration law that applies to people who are deemed to carry extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.
"We knew it was illegal before we switched the girls to an O-1 visa," Jung said in a telephone interview with The Korea Herald.
"However, the girls didn’t start getting to work as soon as they entered the United States, so we didn’t anticipate there would be problems regarding that matter," he said. "So at first, our girls entered with a student visa while they were registered at the language institute."
Although Jung did not state the exact day and month the group had been given the visas, he said the switch came "immediately."
Jung was asked about the name and location of the institute for confirmation purposes but maintained he did not know specific information on the whereabouts of the academy the group were allegedly attending in order to retain legal sojourn in the United States.
"But that’s a minor issue -- an issue our stateside branch handles that I have no knowledge of," Jung said.
On the matter of the group’s health insurance, Jung said they had been covered until January, when the group was still registered with the language institute.
"You do realize over 50 million Americans don’t carry health insurance and most Korean nationals there don’t as well, right?" he said. "With that said, up until January they did have health insurance.
"That was possible because they were legally allowed to apply for health insurance as students but because the girls had been flying back and forth from Korea to the U.S., they stopped attending classes which took them out of coverage once they left the school."So if the group had maintained legal status as O-1 holders, why would they be required to attend the language institute until January?
"They needed to continue their linguistic studies," Jung said.
"Dan was hired to further teach them along with another tutor named Claire."
He was referring to Daniel Gauss, the band's former English tutor who spoke about JYPE's alleged mistreatment of the girls to The Korea Herald on Tuesday.
Jung said JYPE was under no obligation to provide the members of the group with health insurance because the company "did not maintain an employer and employee relationship." (......the ****?)
He refuted claims of medical neglect saying "there was never a time when they weren’t given medical attention if they needed it. (ok now idgi.)
"If you’re a top class star like the Wonder Girls, your health is our first priority."
Jung was also asked about the $2,500 fine the company’s Manhattan office was slapped with.
"The title holder of the property prior to its acquisition by JYPE had remodeled the entire structure to be suitable for office use," he said.
According to the citation administered by the New York City Department of Buildings, it has placed the unresolved case into default status after representatives of JYPE failed to make a court appearance on April 29, 2010.
"We didn’t show up to our court hearing because the contractors who had originally commissioned the construction of it had said they would appear on behalf of us after we filed a complaint to them," Jung said.
The JYPE president bluntly responded to allegations from the group’s tutor, Daniel Gauss.
"I don’t understand why the entire country has to hear about what this guy has to say. He is just a disgruntled ex-employee who quit because he thought we weren’t treating him well."
Gauss refuted local reports that said that he had been sacked after he demanded a pay raise.
"I was never fired, I quit because they treated me like garbage," Gauss told The Korea Herald.
"I was being paid $20 an hour to teach the group." (Ok, I got paid this much when I was a tutor in high school, so I guess it's fair for him to want more.)
Gauss said he saved most of the e-mail correspondence between himself and JYPE to prove his claims.
"The day before I was supposed to go back to JYPE on May 3, I had a conversation with one of my other private students who told me JYPE probably wasn’t paying me enough money," he said.
"At that point I just decided to quit because I didn’t want to go back and negotiate. At that point, I was already set on leaving the job. But I was hesitant because the girls were so nice and I was convinced the girls were not being treated well."
After Gauss quit his position as the band’s tutor, he decided to look into a "hunch" he had in regards to the "strange" look of the Manhattan JYPE office.
"I thought the building looked strange because they had an office in the basement and they had people living on the second and third floors," he said.
"Of course I was surprised when I found out that they had been busted by the city. So I made inquiries and I spoke to somebody from the NYC Department of Buildings and that person confirmed JYPE’s violation.
Gauss’ allegations against JYPE included charges of illegal housing, lack of health insurance coverage, and the coercion of one of its members to perform a private concert for corporate executives in China. (that last line sounds wrong. Sunye already refuted this in her blog entry yesterday, and 'private concert'? It was a highly-publicized Sony Ericsson endorsement concert that even fans attended....)
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source: omonatheydidnt
SUN YE'S MESSAGE
Quote:
A former English tutor of the Wonder Girls, Daniel Gauss, recently made allegations on JYP Entertainment’s “ill-conceived” management of the girl group’s venture into the U.S. market.
Jung Wook, CEO of JYP Entertainment released a rebuttal statement, denying such claims and clearing up misunderstandings that may have been caused because of them. Even with the company’s rebuttal statement at hand, there was still heavy doubt towards them as they have been plagued with controversial issues as of late.
However, their words may be easier to believe as Yenny herself spoke up about JYP Entertainment’s alleged mistreatment towards the Wonder Girls on her Twitter.
Let me say just one thing. One day, while recording, I said that I felt a cold coming on and he gave me a bottle of vitamins and told me to always take one vitamin everyday. Then, on another day, he bought five jars of organic honey and told me to always eat one spoonful every morning. Because it was good for my throat. When it was my birthday, you wrote me a heartfelt message on a puppy card you handpicked yourself. This is the kind of “unjust” treatment that we have received. It is because we were unable to give back that much in return.
As implied from Yenny’s recent tweet, it seems like things are going swell at the JYP headquarters. So did Daniel Gauss really have the girls’ best interest at heart like he claimed to be, or was he harboring an ulterior motive, like gaining 15 seconds of fame?
JYPE is now seeking to pursue legal action against him for raising such allegations.
Although it is unfortunate that the issue had to arise four days before the Wonder Girls’ long-awaited comeback, you can’t keep a good thing down.
UPDATE: Yenny recently updated her twitter with these two tweets:
@followjyp JY, u said the truth always wins and i believe that cuz u said so. just hope u know that we are here for u as u’ve always been.
@followjyp and we love you..! :)
(edit: yep, this is translated from her korean post)
Yesterday, a former English tutor of the Wonder Girls went public with allegations regarding JYP Entertainment’s mistreatment of the pop quintet, alighting interest among Wonderfuls and kpop fans around the world.
After the JYPE CEO Jung Wook and WG member Yeeun responded to Gauss’s allegations yesterday, leader Sunye followed suit and posted an entry on her blog today in response to the issue.
Hi, this is Sunye of Wonder Girls.
I’m writing because I came across a heartbreaking news while preparing for our comeback.
First… I would like to say that what the English tutor have mentioned is not true.
Especially the story about my father. It is a bit upsetting that personal issues of my family was brought up publicly.
My father was suffering from a long-term illness and few months ago, he was rushed to the hospital when it suddenly worsened.
Upon hearing the news, I immediately flew from New York to Korea to visit my father,
and it so happened that other members were to return to Korea after a week in order to attend an event set up in Korea.
I watched after my father for a week and thankfully he got better, so after consulting his doctor I was able to attend the scheduled event.
He had the illness for almost 20 years, and it wasn’t something that could be dealt with immediately,
so after seeing that he got better, I could settle my mind and return to performing.
Regarding other things he was worried about…
When Sunmi was still not well after receiving a surgery in Korea and flying to New York, although she was against it,
because of our opinion and the company’s opinion she visited hospital frequently until she was fully cured.
We had no trouble with going to hospital over even little things like problems with our skin.
JYPE does not set limit on us entering and exiting the building,
and the JYPE building that we live in was a residence for students before we moved in.
Coming to the US was a matter that we decided upon carefully after receiving the company’s proposal,
and after an year here, the life at New York is fun and we’re thankful, we’ve been seeing and experiencing so many new things.
Even we are finding it hard to understand the points that the English tutor made,
and I decided to write this myself as it is just so heartbreaking for us, who are preparing for a comeback soon.
We have told all these to the company,
and they will take good care of this situation so don’t worry!
We promise that whatever happens, we will tell the truth.
We thank everyone for showing that you care for us,
and we will visit you with our new song “2 Different Tears”!
Thank you!
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source: omonatheydidnt |
