Chinese designer dies after 100 days of overtime in 4 months, but employer says he was watching porn at work
Beijing technology company rejects claim over man’s death, saying none of its staff carry out overtime and that he had been watching pornography at his desk when he fell ill
A Chinese technology company has been accused of causing a designer’s death after he was made to work more than 100 days of overtime in four months, mainland media reports.
However, the Beijing firm disputed the claim in a Beijing court, claiming none of its staff worked overtime.
The company also claimed the designer had been filmed by internal surveillance cameras, which showed he had been looking at pornographic websites at his desk at the time he fell ill, the Beijing Times reported on Friday.
The man, identified only by his surname, Zhang, was 54 when he suffered a brain haemorrhage on International Labour Day last May while at work. He died in hospital seven days later.
Zhang’s family sued Beijing Yinuojia Technology over his death at Shijingshan district court in Beijing.
It told the court the company had given him so much design work to do between last January and May 1 that he had been forced to do 100 days’ overtime, without any rest. His family said overwork had led to him suffering the brain haemorrhage.
However, the company’s legal representative disputed the family’s claim.
The representative said Zhang’s death had nothing to do with his work as a designer at the company, which had paid out 30,000 yuan (HK$35,000) for his hospital treatment.
Zhang had not been asked to work on Labour Day, and that staff worked from 9am to 6pm, including an hour’s break for lunch, and were not required to do overtime, the representative said.
The court was shown video footage from CCTV cameras inside the company’s office reportedly showing Zhang browsing pornographic websites while at his desk on the afternoon he fell ill.
Zhang’s wife, identified only by her surname, Zhao, told the court her husband had telephoned her just after 2pm on the day he fell ill, to tell her that he felt unwell and needed her help.
May 1, or International Labour Day, is a public holiday in China, but video footage showed that Zhang arrived at the otherwise empty office shortly after 8.30am on that day.
The report did not say when the court case took place, and if Zhang’s family disputed the claims that he was watching pornography at work the day he died.
Also the report did not give further details about his employment, including how many years he had worked at the company.
The court has yet to give a verdict.