Wandering in the vast darkness

Chapter 87 Death from Overwork

"Xiao Yu, don't call me Chairman, just call me Lao Shi. We're already sharing the same shoes and clothes, why be so polite?"

As Lao Shi spoke, he took off his clothes and handed them to the waiter, then took off his shoes outside the private room and put on the slippers provided in the teahouse.

Yu Wenhao replied, "If the chairman thinks highly of me, then I won't stand on ceremony."

Old Shi turned around, pointed at Yu Wenhao, and Yu Wenhao smiled and said, "Alright, alright, Old Shi."

The waiter hung their clothes on the hangers and neatly arranged the two pairs of shoes by the door. Another waiter brought over a complete tea set, tea stove, and water, boiled the first pot of water for them, and brewed the tea. Old Shi waved to her, she nodded, went out, and closed the door behind her.

"That kid's surname is Fu, let's just call him Xiao Fu. He joined our company the year before last and worked in the information center," Lao Shi said to Yu Wenhao. "He died suddenly one night last week in his rented apartment. The hospital's examination results said it was caused by some kind of cardiac disease. I don't really understand, but that's roughly it. Anyway, he died of illness."

"The police have also ruled out the possibility of a criminal case. In his case, since the place of death was not within the company premises, nor during working hours or on the way to or from get off work, it was an accident and will definitely be classified as a non-work-related death. Funeral expenses, relief funds, etc., have already been paid into social security, and social security will pay them according to regulations."

"Although our company bears no responsibility for his death, he was still a company employee. After discussing it, we decided to give his family a one-time condolence payment of 200,000 yuan. When they heard this result, his family was very satisfied. His parents even tried to kowtow to me in front of me, but I stopped them."

"We originally thought that after a farewell ceremony, the body would be cremated, our company would send a car to take his ashes back to his hometown, and that would be the end of it. But unexpectedly, after one night, his family, the one in charge, a cousin who came with his parents, suddenly changed their minds and refused to allow cremation. A group of people even came to our company lobby and set up a mourning hall, which is what you see here."

"Their reasoning was that Xiao Fu did not die from his own health problems, but from overwork caused by excessive work pressure and long working hours. At the same time, some articles appeared on Weibo and WeChat public accounts, showing Xiao Fu's WeChat chat with his classmates, in which Xiao Fu said that he was under a lot of pressure, felt very tired, and that his supervisor had criticized him."

"Isn't this reasonable? It's normal to feel stressed and tired, so how can someone die from overwork? I also feel tired and stressed. In this society, who isn't under pressure? Who isn't tired? It's normal to be criticized by your supervisor if you don't do your job well, right?"

"Also, who doesn't complain when chatting with classmates and friends? There are so many WeChat messages, and you just take one or two paragraphs and call that evidence? Does that prove he died from overwork? Heh heh, you don't know how nasty the insults are online, and we immediately become a black-hearted company."

"You can't even read the comments under those articles. It's like they'd throw me into a frying pan and still not be satisfied."

Yu Wen smiled and said to Lao Shi:

"That's how it is now. There are not only a lot of Sherlock Holmeses online, but also a lot of righteous people. No matter what it is, even when the evidence is conclusive and there's no doubt about it, there will always be a group of Sherlock Holmeses who will come out and analyze it in a very logical way, when in fact it's all nonsense. They even think they are very smart and insist on making white black for you."

"There are also some people who, in real life, wouldn't dare to say a word to stop someone from cutting in line, but online they become very loud and perform their sense of justice and their consistent correctness everywhere."

"Yes, yes, that's right," Lao Shi said. "When that big label comes over, how can we handle it? Of course, we'll call the labor arbitration. After the labor arbitration came to inspect, they believed that the working environment and benefits we provided to Xiao Fu were very good. We are a listed company, how could it be bad? There was no problem with overtime work. Therefore, they believed that the claim of death from overwork was unfounded."

"Even if the labor arbitration makes such a conclusion, they still won't accept it. They insist that it was a death from overwork and demand that Xiao Fu be recognized as a work-related death."

"In the case of death due to work-related injury, the funeral expenses are calculated based on six months of the average annual wage of employees in Hangzhou in the previous year. Thirty percent of each of his parents' monthly wages will be given as a pension. The one-time death compensation is twenty times the per capita disposable income of urban residents nationwide in the previous year."

"Who told you to be a listed company?" Yu Wenhao interjected. "Haha, a listed company, in their eyes, that's a big fish, so they'll definitely keep you pinned down."

"Just like you said, after the labor arbitration concluded that the death was not a work-related injury, people online started talking about the power of capital, implying that our company bought the conclusion. Even the police station believed that we had bribed them, which put pressure on the labor arbitration and the police station."

"No matter what they say, we certainly can't pay this money. First, the company's rules don't allow it, and second, we can't set this precedent. Our entire group has more than 8,000 people, and every year there are always a few people like Xiao Fu who get sick and die. If we calculate it as a work injury and compensate them like this, what will happen? How can our company continue to operate?"

"We disagreed, so they came and made a scene, setting up a funeral hall on the first floor, burning incense and candles, and displaying wreaths. Does this look like a company? We had no choice but to call the police. When the police arrived, Xiao Fu's parents hugged the officers' legs and cried, demanding that the police stand up for them and help them get justice. What could the police do? They couldn't do anything..."

"Moreover, they haven't done anything drastic, like blocking the door to prevent your people from coming in or out," Yu Wenhao interrupted Lao Shi.

"Yes, that's right. They don't even go upstairs, they don't step into any office, and they even bring their own water. They don't care about the company's people coming and going. They just set up tables in the lobby and basement to play cards and mahjong," Lao Shi said.

"This was orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. If they did anything excessive or interfered with your work, you could call the police, and they would have a reason to arrest them. But in this situation, they've just lost a loved one, and several elderly people are crying around the police. The police definitely can't do anything. Also, after the labor arbitration results came out, they filed for appeal, right?"

Yu asked inquiringly, and Old Shi nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, you're right. Xiao Yu, it seems like you were the one who planned this behind the scenes?"

Yu Wenhao laughed and said, "The tactics are all the same: try every means to stall until you give in."

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