Worked to Death?
BYD Automotive (002594.CH) (“Build Your Dreams”) is a major producer of cars, trucks, and busses based in Xian. China where it has two production sites. According to local news the sudden death of a 36 year old employee aroused public concern due to the fact that documents appeared implying that the worker had been ‘worked to death’, far exceeding working hour restrictions. After the company refunded the workers social security and funding plan to the family, negotiations began over the company’s responsibility in the sudden death.
The employee, having been with the company since 2009, worked in logistics (which could mean almost anything) and tended to work the night shift, however it was soon discovered that between October 28 and November 3 he had taken 7 night shifts in a row, six of which lasted roughly 12 hours, and had 26 days of work in October that lasted 12 hours.. According to labor laws in China restrict workers to 8 hour shifts with extended hours only in special circumstances. Such extended hours, which cannot exceed 11 consecutive hours, can only be applied for 12 working days per month, which was obviously exceeded.
As the employee was in rental housing when he died and no autopsy was done to pinpoint the cause of death, the company claimed no responsibility, while the family tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement based on the excessive working hours. As negotiations failed, the family went to the press to bring the story to the public and suddenly the company negotiated a settlement of 200,000 yuan ($31,322) as compensation (likely no guilt admitted). Without an autopsy it would be hard to liken the incident to being ‘worked to death’, but we hear so many incidents of ‘overworking’ in Chinese factories during the holiday period that it is hard to rule it out, but $31K? C’mon…
The employee, having been with the company since 2009, worked in logistics (which could mean almost anything) and tended to work the night shift, however it was soon discovered that between October 28 and November 3 he had taken 7 night shifts in a row, six of which lasted roughly 12 hours, and had 26 days of work in October that lasted 12 hours.. According to labor laws in China restrict workers to 8 hour shifts with extended hours only in special circumstances. Such extended hours, which cannot exceed 11 consecutive hours, can only be applied for 12 working days per month, which was obviously exceeded.
As the employee was in rental housing when he died and no autopsy was done to pinpoint the cause of death, the company claimed no responsibility, while the family tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a settlement based on the excessive working hours. As negotiations failed, the family went to the press to bring the story to the public and suddenly the company negotiated a settlement of 200,000 yuan ($31,322) as compensation (likely no guilt admitted). Without an autopsy it would be hard to liken the incident to being ‘worked to death’, but we hear so many incidents of ‘overworking’ in Chinese factories during the holiday period that it is hard to rule it out, but $31K? C’mon…
RSS Feed