Huawei has been on fire in China after reports that ex-Huawei employee Li Hongyuan was sued for extortion after getting termination compensation and then detained for 251 days.
After questioning on the Internet, Huawei finally made an official response on the evening of December 2 stating that it has rights and obligations to report the suspected illegal behavior to the judicial authorities which caused Li's arrest.
Huawei also stated that it respects the decisions of the judiciary, including public security, procuratorates and courts. If Li Hongyuan believes that his rights have been damaged, Huawei supports his use of legal weapons to defend his rights, including suing Huawei.
According to a Wednesday report by Sina Tech, judging from the current media reports and the voice of the employee Li Hongyuan, there are still many unclear points in this case.
The report said Huawei's response has not fully answered these questions. Is the compensation of 300,000 yuan reasonable? Why did Huawei transfer the money through a private account? Does Huawei deliberately make false accusations? Is there any fraud in Huawei's inverter business? These need further clarification from Huawei officials.
1, Is Li Hongyuan's claim reasonable?
Li Hongyuan joined Huawei in October 2005, and left Huawei in January 2018 to work for Huawei for more than 12 years.
Li Hongyuan said in an interview with Jiemian News that when the contract was renewed at the end of 2017, he still wanted to stay at Huawei, but the company chose not to renew.
"I respect the choice of the company, but because I have been in the company for 12 years, according to the provisions of the labor law, I can sign an open-term labor contract for more than 10 years, and the company should pay compensation in accordance with the labor law."
According to Li Hongyuan, the initial plan given by HR was N+1 (including the year-end award), and they did not agree with it and proposed 2N. "In the end, they readily agreed and the two sides signed a resignation agreement."
According to the Labor Contract Law, if the employer legally terminates the labor contract with the employee, it shall pay the employee economic compensation, and the economic compensation shall be paid to the labor based on the number of years the employee has worked in the unit and one month's salary for each full year Payment, which is commonly known as N.
But if the employee is not notified of the termination of the labor contract relationship 30 days in advance, one month's salary is required to be paid in lieu of notice, which is N+1.
In addition, if an employer terminates or terminates a labor contract in violation of the law, it shall pay compensation to the laborer at twice the economic compensation rate, which is 2N.
Li Hongyuan said that when he joined Huawei, his salary was 9,000 yuan per month, and then his salary increased exponentially.
Therefore, according to Li Hongyuan's 12-year service life at Huawei, 2N compensation is obviously more than 300,000 yuan.
Li Hongyuan also responded to the issue of compensation in an interview with Time Video, saying that Huawei paid N+1 compensation first, and 300,000 yuan was the difference between 2N and N+1.
It is worth noting that according to the interface news report, after Li Hongyuan received 300,000 yuan on March 8, 2018, he believed that the year-end award previously agreed had not been awarded, so he sued Huawei on November 7, 2018, for A total of more than 200,000 year-end prizes were returned, but were arrested on December 16, 2018.
2, Why use private account to transfer money?
According to Li Hongyuan's description in the time video interview, Huawei's earlier N+1 compensation was transferred through the company account, while the subsequent 300,000 yuan was transferred through the HR secretary's private account.
Li Hongyuan said that he did not know why he used a private account to transfer money. He called the Huawei HR hotline to ask the reason, but the other party said that this was a matter of Li Hongyuan's own department and they were not under his control.
"But I know that no less than five Huawei colleagues' termination compensations are obtained in this way. I think this is a flexible approach for Huawei." Li Hongyuan said.
According to media analysis, Huawei employees' compensation is generally N + 1 compensation, and rarely 2N. This is why Huawei believes Li Hongyuan is suspected of extortion.
Private account transfer records have also become one of the evidence that Huawei sued Li Hongyuan for alleged blackmail. Later, the recording of Li Hongyuan's wife during the negotiation of termination compensation became the key evidence that Li Hongyuan was not prosecuted.
Why Huawei HR chose to use a private account to transfer 300,000 yuan instead of through a company account is still unknown.
3, Is there any fraud in Huawei's inverter business?
According to Li Hongyuan's description, during the operation of the inverter affairs department, he discovered the problem of fraud. "The inverter business I was in at the time was an industry that existed through government subsidies.
The sales gross profit was low, and I wanted to make money only to increase the scale. The business fraud of the department started very early, and the company's large amount of capital was occupied and stored. And inventories are bearing huge losses. "
At 10:24 on the evening of November 21, 2016, Li Hongyuan sent an informative email to the company. However, he later found himself marginalized at work and was eventually no longer renewed by the company.
In Huawei's official response on the evening of December 2, there was no mention of whether the inverter affairs department had any problem of fraud. However, Li Hongyuan said in an interview with "Every Day" that on February 2, 2018, Huawei's Human Resources Committee issued the "Accountability Resolution to Persons Responsible for Violations of the inverter affairs department".
Inverter is a converter that converts the direct current generated by the photoelectric effect into the alternating current used daily. Although the inverter business is not large in many of Huawei's businesses and is not widely known, Huawei's share of this business in the global market has been at the forefront for many years.
According to a report by analyst Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, Huawei, Sunshine Power, and SMA have sequentially ranked the top three suppliers of the world's largest inverter suppliers in 2018, and this three-line lineup has remained unchanged since 2016 change.
Huawei also stated in the official website introduction that Huawei has been ranked number one in the world for inverter shipments for four consecutive years from 2015 to 2018, and has 800+ smart photovoltaic employees and 2000+ energy engineers.
4, Is there any obituary for Huawei HR?
According to surging reports, Li Hongyuan was arrested on the grounds of alleged occupation and later changed to infringement of trade secrets because Li Hongyuan copied and printed some documents at Huawei.
Huawei entrusted legal personnel to claim that Li Hongyuan “threatened to disclose information and demand compensation from the company in a labor dispute with the company for compensation for termination of employment,” and the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau filed a case with Li Hongyuan on suspicion of violating trade secrets.
However, after numerous interrogations by public security organs against Li Hongyuan, it was confirmed that he did not infringe on trade secrets.
Later, Huawei supplemented the report materials and accused Li Hongyuan again of extorting and forcing HR to agree to pay an additional compensation of 330,000 yuan in private in the process of negotiating the termination compensation with HR in exchange for not making trouble and not reporting. Li Hongyuan's charges have again turned into suspected extortion.
Why has Huawei repeatedly sued Li Hongyuan for different reasons? Are there any obituary factors? Huawei did not respond directly in the official statement, saying that Huawei has rights and obligations, and based on the facts to report to the judicial authorities on suspected illegal acts.
Regarding Li Hongyuan's inability to be prosecuted for lack of evidence, Huawei claims that it respects the decisions of judicial authorities, including public security, procuratorates and courts.
5, Does Huawei have to apologize and compensate?
After Li Hongyuan regained his freedom, he applied for state compensation in October this year, and in November this year received 107,752.94 yuan in compensation from the Longgang District Procuratorate, including compensation for personal liberty damages and comfort for mental damage.
At the same time, the Longgang District Procuratorate promised to send letters to Li Hongyuan's original work unit (Huawei) and the unit where Li Hongyuan's father was located to eliminate the impact and restore reputation.
After eight months of detention, although Li Hongyuan has received state compensation, the outside world is also concerned about whether Huawei has responsibility for the matter and whether an apology and compensation are needed.
Regarding the current appeal, Li Hongyuan once told the media that he hoped to be able to communicate with Huawei. "It is better that Ren can come and communicate with me in person."
However, Huawei said in its response on December 2 that if Li Hongyuan believes that his rights and interests have been damaged, Huawei supports him to use legal weapons to defend his rights, including suing Huawei. This also reflects the spirit of the rule of law in which everyone is equal before the law.
Li Hongyuan's wife said in an interview with the media that she has not yet considered whether to sue Huawei, but she still hopes to have an apology.
