Woman fired for talking back to her boss

[SlowwHand]

HEY, you dumb fothermucker! I'm not even supposed to sign that form.

And your point is...?

Thu Sep 6, 1:55 PM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese woman is suing her former employer after falling victim to the company policy of firing staff who contradict their boss three times, local media reported on Thursday.

HWA-1 Enterprise Co Ltd, a light industrial manufacturer based in China's southeastern port city of Xiamen, sacked a woman surnamed Ni for refusing to pay fines she incurred for talking back to superiors, Xinhua news agency said, citing a local newspaper.

The company's policy held that a "first contradiction of superiors" would incur a fine of 30 yuan ($4), a second would incur 100 yuan, and a third would warrant dismissal, the agency said.

Ni incurred a 30 yuan fine after taking umbrage with her factory supervisor for reprimanding her for not filling in a form.

"The factory head told me that, according to company rules, no matter whether management is right or wrong, employees are not allowed to contradict them and must obey," Xinhua quoted Ni as saying.

Ni was then threatened with a 100 yuan fine for refusing to pay the first fine, and was sacked after she threatened to report her supervisor to the company's human resource's department.

The factory's supervisor, surnamed Cao, said it was his legal right to sack Ni.

"The company can terminate the contract of employees who seriously breach labor discipline or the company's rules," Xinhua quoted Cao as saying.

[dudemanjack]

I would have to think there's a better chance of me becoming an astronaut then this woman succeeding in this lawsuit.

[DRoseDARs]

To put this into perspective, consider this:
You work in an architectural firm as a draftsman. You're happily drawing lines when your boss (the architect) pops into your little draft space and tells you to sign off on some architectural blueprints. You say no because you're not the licensed architect here, she is. She is not amused and warns you that you're fired if you don't. You begrudgingly comply.

Congratulations, you've both just committed a serious crime. It is illegal to impersonate an architect in the United States. After the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871 and the 1906 San Fransisco Earthquake, the building industry put its foot down and got serious about organizing standard building codes, as well as about who could design buildings. Nowadays, there are serious legal consequences for violations of this system of rules and regulations because such violations threaten public health and safety. Architects go through extensive education and must become licensed before practicing, much like doctors must. A draftsman simply hasn't had as much education, nor gone through the heavy testing to earn a license. In 2005, Illinois slapped a $250,000 fine on one guy who forged the name of a dead architect for several different projects. Today, Frank Lloyd Wright would face similar legal troubles as he was never licensed.

Without knowing more details behind this woman's story, it is possible that she knew full well she could not fill out a particular form because she could be signing off on dangerous chemicals (she worked in light industry) that she simply does not have the authority to handle. Perhaps it was an order form for large equipment, which could have a serious impact on the company she worked for. I have to imagine that she wouldn't bother taking this to court if it was a form stating what she was bringing to next week's company picnic. I have to imagine it was an important enough form that she knew it was improper for her to fill it out, that she would get in trouble later FOR filling it out.

[Kuciwalker]

togglecaps, this happened in China. She doesn't stand a chance.

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
togglecaps, this happened in China. She doesn't stand a chance.

Thanks, but already knew this. I actually heard about this story this morning from elsewhere. But the fact that it's in China doesn't automatically mean she'll lose, it just means there's a high probability of it. With all the negative press China has been receiving for its exports, if this woman was working in an relevant environment and refused to participate in an action which could have further marred Chinese exports, the government might hype her as an example of its citizens taking a stand against jeopardizing the safety and quality of Chinese products. We wouldn't hear anything further about this three strikes rule, but we'll hear about the great strides in blah blah this and superior snore that and the unity of the people.

[Provost Harrison]

The knights who say "Ni"...

[Provost Harrison]

Kuci, I'd have thought with your views on labour laws you'd be all for this kind of action, after all, it is the right of the boss.

I'm glad I'm allowed to speak up to my bosses - they just seem to speak out of their arses anyway.

[Apocalypse]

It's her fault for getting into a sketchy business anyway.

[aaglo]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
The knights who say "Ni"...

That's exactly what I thought...
Her lawyer's name then should be... Eki-eki-tpang..something-something?

That company's policy is sooo medieval. I bet they use thumbscrews in sales department too.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Apocalypse
It's her fault for getting into a sketchy business anyway.

Yeah, how dare she try and make a living! Unfortunately she may not have had the luxury of choice or was completely unaware.

[BeBMan]

Fired for talking back? That will teach them evil womyn. Next time she'll ask for permission to speak first

[Japher]

sounds like my last job... seriously serious on that

I was in a meeting and I disagreed with a manager and said so, they got mad, started yelling at some other dude... Later, my boss came to me and told me never to disagree with anyone again... I left that hell hole 3 months later and told them to kiss it

that felt good

best thing was that I gave my 2-weeks and after that day I never saw my boss as I assume he too busy playing damage control by going around and slandering my name. Good luck finding those final reports I was suppose to have turned in before I left!

[Lorizael]

I was going to say, is this better or worse than the United States where you can be fired for any reason?

But it's clearly worse. I mean, she was fired and fined for talking back to her boss. That's just insane.

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by Japher
sounds like my last job... seriously serious on that

I was in a meeting and I disagreed with a manager and said so, they got mad, started yelling at some other dude... Later, my boss came to me and told me never to disagree with anyone again... I left that hell hole 3 months later and told them to kiss it

that felt good

best thing was that I gave my 2-weeks and after that day I never saw my boss as I assume he too busy playing damage control by going around and slandering my name. Good luck finding those final reports I was suppose to have turned in before I left!

"Opps, sorry about that. I wondered why my toilet paper felt so rough that day..."

[Kidlicious]

I don't think you really want to contradict your boss more than 3 times anyway. You would probably be fired anywhere.