Next Employee Drama

[ChinaBuck]

I already shared the story of the employee that quit and stole one of my designs to win a competition. Hereâ€s story 2 from early last Summer that wrapped up today. And by the way, the vast majority of my current colleagues and ex-colleagues are good people. 

So, early in 2020 we hire a young-ish lady with relevant experience. Over the course of four months it was clear she wasnâ€t going to cut it. We fired her, and following Chinese labor laws we were required to pay her 2 months severance. We offered her 2 1/2 to cover some overtime. She left & cashed the check. But 2 weeks later argued we owed her more money to cover her OT. Basically we told her (nicely) to take a hike, we followed the rules. They are very strict in China and favor the worker bee significantly. 

She hires a lawyer (not named Saul) and files some legal brief with the Workers Bureau. Back in December the magistrate at the hearing found in our favor. Great, itâ€s over. Big news since the system favors the worker, and we are an international firm. 

Buuuuuttt, she kicks it up to the court system in January. We propose another 1 1/2 months salary, she agrees, but still requires a court appearance. She now tells the judge she changed her mind, she was “so traumatized” by the experience that she now wants an additional 6 months salary beyond what we already gave her. Mind you, she worked for us for 4 months. Judge allows her to proceed to provide evidence. Not looking good. And she wasn't willing to entertain a counter offer. Uh-oh. 

Today we received the judgeâ€s decision. Ten page write-up summarizing the evidence with the final page with the decision. He told her (legally) unequivocally to go pound sand. 

So, she spent her severance pay for lawyers and court costs and got nothing. Sometimes things do work out.

[Alabuckeye]

“Ha…I will take advantage of the rich corrupt Americans.”

[Syncro]

CB, how many people are in your office/firm? What is the breakdown in nationality?

[ChinaBuck]

CB, how many people are in your office/firm? What is the breakdown in nationality?

We are at 10 right now. We were up to 19 just before the virus hit, after that, projects dropped like a rock. This same sort of thing happened to all of the international firms as China pushed remaining projects more to state owned firms. Not out of the woods yet, but things look more hopeful for us over the next year. A lot of firms just up and left the market. 

Right now itâ€s me, a Brit and the rest Chinese. Weâ€ve had as many as five foreigners counting me. Whatâ€s interesting is that most foreigners left and went back to their respective homes. I have friends at several of the really large international firms and some are down just one or two expats, some of those offices are all Chinese staff now. For the big firms, itâ€s damn near impossible to get one of their western staff to agree to come to China. 

China has recently had two “listening” sessions in Shanghai and in Beijing. China is hemorrhaging foreign firms and investment in a huge way. So they hosted these sessions with the leaders of these global businesses to show that they listening to these firms. The gripes are common: Strict virus protocols, lack of IP protection, regulatory opacity, and market restrictions. Itâ€s going to be difficult because those are things that the Chinese are not likely to adjust much.

[ChinaBuck]

“Ha…I will take advantage of the rich corrupt Americans.”

This has some element of truth. Thatâ€s why I admit we were a little surprised that the court cam down so strongly in favor of our position. Itâ€s not common at all for Chinese courts to come down on the side of a foreign business, and especially over labor law issues where they are tough on all companies. We have learned a few lessons though about our policies that we need adjust and make sure they are absolutely followed to a T.