NEWS9
NetEase falls in dispute with employee
Domestic internet giant NetEase has generated a lot of buzz recently — not for its product, but for a dispute with a former employee.
On Sunday, the WeChat public account "Your game, my heart" published the story of a five-year-experienced game planner from NetEase. The post told, in smooth and literary language, how he was unfairly dismissed by the company and had to fight for his deserved compensation.
The employee shared how he was required to resign after being diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a fatal heart disease, how his department leader edited records of his job performance to downgrade it and how human resources staff threatened him and his family when he said he would seek arbitration.
According to the employee's tale, he was eventually forced out by company security staff.
The employee also attached some audio records of telephone calls as evidence. By Monday morning, the story had not only a reading record of 100,000 or more, but also over 100,000 "likes", showing widespread approval.
On Monday, NetEase responded to the case, apologizing and admitting they had taken rash action in dismissing the employee. They also clarified some details about the case, saying they had paid the employee his deserved resignation compensation.
"The probe takes some time, but one thing is certain," the company said in a statement. "The employee's health comes first and our support and concern won't disappear with him leaving."
One particularly high-rated comment on the NetEase statement read:
"A totally emotionless PR story. Your image is falling."
One detail of their response, which said the employee had done much work but his job performance was rather low, also aroused criticism — many commenters said "job performance" is too subjective a term, and NetEase could evaluate an employee in whatever way they wanted.
The case is still ongoing and being discussed. However, one loophole it exposes about the law's protection of workers deserves attention.
According to the employee's story, when he sought arbitration HR threatened him. They told him he might win, but the company could drag the whole thing out by constantly appealing, thus making it difficult for the individual.
What they said is, sadly, true in part. The Labor Law protects workers'rights, but in practice when an employee sues a company, the latter can just delay the procedure during a dispute, and the employee might suffer under their unemployment.
Luckily, that loophole is being mended as many legal experts notice it. Now the employee can seek arbitration and require to implement it fast, thus defeating the company's strategy of delaying.
The law can always defend justice. But when a company treats its employee rudely, that might be a problem of company culture, which can be solved only via other means.
