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A few days ago, a news that "Ma Weidu Company suddenly laid off 80 employees without informing the situation in advance" attracted attention on the Internet. According to a blogger's Weibo, on May 31, 2024, his company, Beijing Guanfu Culture Co., Ltd., unilaterally issued a notice of termination of labor relations without any prior communication with employees or employee representatives, bringing the number of employees to more than 80, citing "significant changes in the objective circumstances on which the employment contract was concluded."
According to public information, in Beijing Guanfu Culture Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Beijing Guanfu Culture), Ma Weidu holds more than 95% of the shares. On July 1, the New Yellow River reporter contacted the above-mentioned Mr. Bo Zheng, who introduced that the notice of termination (termination) of the labor contract was uniformly sent to most colleagues in multiple departments, and indicated that the labor contract relationship would be terminated on June 30, 2024.
Notice of dissolution (termination) of labor contract Photo provided by the interviewee
The New Yellow River reporter learned that the employees of Beijing Guanfu Culture who received the notice of termination of the labor contract were not only the employees of Beijing Guanfu Culture, but also Beijing Xiaoguan Auction Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Beijing Xiaoguan Auction), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beijing Guanfu Culture. Mr. Zhang said that the company has not communicated with them specifically about the compensation for layoffs, and that at present, including Mr. Zhang, as well as a number of employees of Beijing Guanfu Culture and Beijing Xiaoguan Auction, have filed arbitration applications, and will hold hearings in mid to late July.
On July 1, a reporter from the New Yellow River called Beijing Guanfu Culture, and a staff member said that it was inconvenient to respond to the matter. The New Yellow River reporter contacted Chen, the legal representative of Beijing Guanfu Culture, who said that the matter is currently going through the procedure.
An employee was accused of "dealing with 8 lawsuits" due to arbitration
Mr. Zhang, who has been working in Beijing for more than four years and is the director of photography, is responsible for shooting auction lots, and said that the notice of termination of the employment contract was very sudden and without any warning.
"I felt a little blind when I first received it." Mr. Li (pseudonym) from Beijing Xiaoguan Auction also received a notice of termination of the labor contract, saying that he was one of the first batch of old employees of the company, and he was surprised that there was no advance communication. Later, Mr. Li learned that most of the employees of Beijing Guanfu Culture and Beijing Xiaoguan Auction had received the notice, but the specific compensation plan was not mentioned, and the company had also said that it would talk to employees about the matter within three days, but he did not wait.
Photo provided by the interviewee of Beijing Guanfu Culture Co., Ltd
According to Mr. Zhang, the 6th of each month is the company's payday, but his salary is currently only paid until April, and the company's reason is that it participated in the arbitration so it cannot pay the salary for May, and the employee who received the notice of termination of the labor contract received the salary for May because he did not participate in the arbitration. Mr. Lee also confirmed this.
In addition, according to Mr. Zhang's description, it was a condition given by the company to pay the salary for the month of May without going to arbitration. Mr. Li told the New Yellow River reporter that eight of them had previously found the same lawyer to apply for arbitration, but because some employees were under great financial pressure and could not insist, they withdrew the arbitration.
In addition, according to the WeChat group chat records provided by Mr. Zhang, a person in charge of Beijing Guanfu Culture had previously posted an employee's arbitration situation in the group, stating that the employee would face two trials in the company's appeal court, as well as the company's personal lawsuit against the employee, so that the employee had to deal with 8 lawsuits. Mr. Zhang questioned the fact that the head of the company was a disguised threat.
For the employees who arbitrated, the information posted by the person in charge of the company in the group. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
The company revealed that it is considering a restructuring or merger
"It's a bit of a disappointment, indeed." Mr. Li told the New Yellow River reporter that he is an old employee, and he has more feelings for his colleagues here, and he has also watched the company develop from the beginning to the beginning. Regarding the claim, Mr. Li said that compensation in accordance with the law is sufficient, and there will be no excessive demands. He mentioned that so far the company has not come forward to talk to them about the dismissal compensation, "We don't ask for a sum of money, we have been working for so long." Mr. Zhang also said that he hoped that the company would publicly apologize to all employees and compensate them legally and reasonably.
According to the notice of termination (termination) of the employment contract provided by Mr. Zhang, it can also be seen that the reason is: "there has been a major change in the objective situation". However, Mr. Zhang also said that he was puzzled as to why most of the employees were sent notice of termination of the employment contract, but then the company withdrew part of the notice of termination of the employment contract, which was even more puzzling. According to a statement from Beijing Guanfu provided by Mr. Zhang, "this month, everyone is worried about their work and the future, the reason is that they received the "Notice of Termination of Labor Contract from the Company", and the company did not consider the issue of "Termination of Labor Contract" issued by the company (the original company considered to solve the salary problem of employees as much as possible, and at the same time let employees know the company's current predicament as soon as possible, so as to provide sufficient time for seeking a new job), but the company's good intentions failed to obtain the understanding of employees, so the company decided to withdraw the "Notice of Termination of Labor Contract" issued to you and apologize to you." "The notice will be issued on June 22, 2024.
In addition, the above notice also mentions: the company this year in the field and project performance has declined significantly, the company is currently considering and is seeking restructuring or merger, has been actively negotiated with a number of enterprises, and has also expressed positive intentions, but this is a major event, it is difficult to complete the entire process in a very short time, and please wait patiently for the good news. It is unclear how much these circumstances have to do with the layoffs.
Notice and other explanations of the company's withdrawal of the "Notice of Termination of Labor Contract" Photo provided by the interviewee
Mr. Li, who had completed his handover on June 28, told the New Yellow River reporter that some employees who had previously received layoff notices were still working at the company.
In response to the New Yellow River reporter, Chen Mou, the legal representative of Beijing Guanfu Culture, said: There is nothing to answer this, and it is going through the procedure. Another person in charge of Beijing Guanfu Culture, surnamed Zhang, said that he would not be interviewed and that everything was going through legal procedures.
According to public information, Beijing Guanfu Culture Co., Ltd., founded in 2016 and located in Beijing, is an enterprise mainly engaged in the cultural and art industry, and its company address is located in Shunyi District, Beijing. It is worth noting that on June 24, 2024, the legal representative of Beijing Guanfu Culture was changed from Ma Weidu to Chen. Born in Beijing, Ma Weidu is a collector and cultural scholar, and is the founder and current director of the Guanfu Museum.
Mr. Zhang's Notice of Appearance in Arbitration Courtesy of the interviewee
On June 28, Mr. Zhang received a resignation certificate from Beijing Guanfu Culture, but he did not sign it. Several employees, including him, have also been notified of the hearing time of the personnel dispute arbitration, which is scheduled for July 16.
Jiang Tengfei, a lawyer at Beijing Jingyun Law Firm, told the New Yellow River reporter that according to the case situation stated by the parties and the existing evidence provided, combined with the relevant laws and regulations on labor, the company may be involved in two illegal points: first, there are arrears of wages and remuneration for workers; Second, the unilateral termination of the labor contract during the contract period may not comply with the relevant provisions of the labor law.
At present, the company involved, Beijing Guanfu Culture Co., Ltd., and Ma Weidu himself have not publicly responded.
(Source: New Yellow River Client)