Is there any other way than “evil” to describe a company pressuring one of their employees, that had almost half their brain removed after a work-related accident, to leave the hospital? Thought not. That’s what Foxconn — Apple‘s largest contract manufacturer — is doing, though. Zhang Tingzhen, one of Foxconn’s employees, was left unable to speak or walk correctly after doctors surgically removed parts of his brain following an electric shock received at the factory. Unfortunately, it appears Foxconn is tired of footing the bill.
See, the law requires disabled employees to be assessed by a panel of medical experts in order for compensation to be given. Contrary to what Foxconn has been pressuring, however, this assessment is typically done after treatment is concluded. Zhang remains under observation for the time being, so his treatment is obviously not over.
Another law stipulates that workers injured on the job can be treated for two years before an assessment is required. Zhang has been in the hospital for only a year. Yet Foxconn has been harassing his family about removing him from the hospital to receive assessment since July.
Part of the issue here is that Foxconn wants Zhang to travel to Huizhou province to be assessed and refuses to have him assessed in Shenzhen where the hospital is located. The following quote, from Reuters, doesn’t really make it sound like Zhang is in any state to travel:
Zhang was repairing a spotlight on an external wall at a Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, bordering Hong Kong, when he received an electric shock and fell four meters (12 feet) to the ground. He has since undergone five operations, has lost his memory, is incontinent and requires careful, regular monitoring.
So, yeah. “Evil” probably sums it up.
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