Forced to quit by locking employee in "dungeon" for 4 days

The case was tried in court in May, but only recently became known to the public. The backlash was not due to the above-mentioned employee "exposing" the case, but because Guangzhou Duoyi Network Co. Ltd. posted the story online to protest the court's decision.

The company published the entire court document on its official Weibo account, publicly protesting the ruling made by a district court in Sichuan Province (China) in May, forcing its subsidiary in Sichuan to compensate employee Liu Linzhu 380,000 yuan (1.3 billion VND).

“We believe that there are many problems in labor law that are seriously hindering economic development and are applied arbitrarily by judges, distorting the truth,” the company said in a statement..

The court's official website has yet to make the court transcript public. Liu's lawyer confirmed the authenticity of the court document released to Shangyou News, a city government newspaper.

In December 2022, Liu Linzhu found himself unable to log into the company's computer system or use his access card, following lengthy negotiations over his resignation.

The company told Liu he had to attend training and sent him to an empty room on a different floor than his usual workplace. The room was dark, had no electricity, no computer, just a desk and a chair. Liu was there for four days. He was allowed to leave the room and go home after work, but was not given any tasks, and his cell phone was confiscated.

It was not until the fifth day, after Liu's wife reported to the police how the company treated her husband, that the official notice of his dismissal was issued.

To avoid paying compensation, Guangzhou Duoyi Network claimed that Liu was fired for violating company policy. He was accused of viewing nude photos and visiting unrelated websites during work hours. However, as an art editor, Liu argued that the images he viewed were for work purposes only.

The lower court agreed with Liu and declared Liu's confinement in the dark room illegal under the Labor Contract Law, which requires employers to provide workers with suitable working conditions.

The company has not commented further on the case, while the public has largely supported the court's ruling. Online users have also expressed surprise at the company's harsh rules, which include banning employees from bringing mobile phones to work, communicating privately with each other, or participating in social activities together after work.

There were thousands of angry comments under the company's Weibo post: "This is the only company I've seen that dares to put its policies above labor laws", "With regulations like this, who would dare to work for this company anymore?"...

This is not the first time the company has run into trouble. In 2020, the company's CEO, Xu Bo, caused public outrage when he announced: "This year, the company has performed well with significant profit growth. The company has decided to allow employees to voluntarily apply for a 10% reduction in monthly salaries."

Some employees told Hongxing News that the "voluntary pay cut" was actually a test of compliance and loyalty.