A toxic work culture can definitely push an employee to quit. But there are some companies that try to force someone out instead of firing them directly. While most companies wouldn’t choose to go extreme, there are some employers who use unusual tactics to try and make someone resign.
From burdening an employee with undesirable or overwhelming projects to embarrassing them in front of other colleagues, employers do the unthinkable in the hope that the employee will get fed up and leave. In a similar instance, a company in China kept an employee, Liu Linzhu, confined in a ‘small dark room’ for four days to force him to resign over a labour dispute.
However, what’s more shocking is that this unusual incident came to light after the organisation Guangzhou Duoyi Network Co. Ltd. challenged a court ruling on the case, reported the South China Morning Post.
The incident happened in December 2022 when Liu found that he could no longer use his access pass or log into the company’s system. This emerged after negotiating his resignation. Later, the company informed him that he had to participate in training and took the employee to a different floor from his regular workplace.
But instead of training, he was locked in a pitch-black, empty room with no work assignments. The room was completely devoid of computers and colleagues, with just a chair and a table, the South China Morning Post added.
The outlet further shared that the company even seized his phone, although he was permitted to leave the room and go home after “work.” Four days after the traumatising incident, on the fifth day, Liu’s wife filed a police report regarding the abuse towards her husband, and the company formally issued a notice of termination.
The company claimed that Liu had violated company policies during the layoff to avoid having to pay compensation. He was accused of viewing obscene pictures and visiting irrelevant websites during working hours. However, Liu argued that the pictures he saw were part of his job and were necessary as a game art editor.
The lower court ruled in favour of the employee and decided that Liu’s confinement violated the Labour Contract Law. The South China Morning Post added that the company published the full court document on its official account on Weibo, disagreeing with the district-level court’s ruling in Sichuan province, southwestern China.
The decision states that Guangzhou Duoyi Network’s subsidiary should pay Liu Linzhu, 380,000 yuan ($52,200 or Rs 43 lakh) in compensation for their terrifying actions.
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