Recently, a former employee of Great Wall Motors Co., Ltd. (referred to as Great Wall Motors) revealed that the company engaged in malicious layoffs through non-negotiated transfers and salary cuts, affecting hundreds of employees. Most of the employees involved have taken various actions to defend their rights. According to the annual report, Great Wall Motors reduced a total of 5,465 employees last year and in the first half of this year.
According to reports from 21st Century Business Herald and Jiemian News, several former employees of Great Wall Motors confirmed that the company carried out malicious layoffs through non-negotiated transfers and salary cuts. Currently, most of the employees involved are seeking justice through individual arbitration and litigation rather than collective lawsuits.
The reason why collective arbitration or lawsuits are not possible is that the contractual subjects of the terminated employees are different, and each person was laid off for various reasons.
One former employee of Great Wall Motors disclosed that as far as he knew, there were already 20 to 30 employees who had successfully claimed compensation through litigation, while about a dozen are still in the process, with some having received their compensation and others preparing the required documents.
This particular employee’s fight for justice has been lengthy, having been dismissed from Great Wall Motors two years ago after the company terminated their labor contract in 2021.
Another former employee of Great Wall Motors revealed that the company conducted malicious layoffs through non-negotiated transfers and salary cuts, affecting as many as hundreds of people.
The whistleblower stated that the human resources department used a performance appraisal result of “D” in the last three assessments as a basis for transferring her from a technical position to a warehouse position, with a reduced salary of 3,000 yuan per month. She refused and claimed that the performance appraisal results were inaccurate.
The whistleblower mentioned that she did not work in the new position as she continued to clock in and work at the original position. The company terminated her labor relationship on the grounds of being absent from work for three days. The whistleblower disputed this claim and is currently in the labor arbitration process seeking compensation.
Aside from contract terminations through transfers and salary cuts, a former employee at a subsidiary fully owned by Great Wall Motors stated that the company terminated their labor contract earlier this year citing work mistakes, without compensation, and failed to pay the overtime pay owed. It was only after arbitration that they were compensated accordingly.
A lawyer who has dealt with labor disputes at companies commented to local media that terminating labor contracts in the manner Great Wall Motors did could be seen as an infringement of workers’ rights. Whether such actions are illegal in actual labor disputes would depend on specific rulings.
The lawyer also mentioned that in the current context of cost-cutting measures through layoffs, terminating labor contracts without compensation is a common tactic used by enterprises to reduce costs using regulations and legal provisions.
Public records indicate that Great Wall Motors Co., Ltd. is the largest collectively owned automotive manufacturing company in China, with participation from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
According to Great Wall Motors’ 2023 annual report, as of December 31, 2023, the company had 82,439 employees, a decrease of 4,928 from the previous year. In the first half of this year, the company had 81,902 employees, which was 537 fewer than at the end of 2023.
Financial reports show that in 2023, Great Wall Motors achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 7.022 billion yuan, a 15.06% decrease from the previous year.
Notably, Great Wall Motors has repeatedly become the center of public attention this year.
According to reports from Sina Finance, on August 20, Great Wall Motors was reported to have been added to the latest list of suppliers handled by the Southern Power Grid, citing “significant acts of dishonesty by the supplier that had a severe impact,” resulting in a ban on Great Wall Motors from bidding for two years. Regarding the incident of being blacklisted, Great Wall Motors attributed it to “work negligence” in their public statement.
In another incident in August this year, a Weibo user posted a screenshot of a civil lawsuit, claiming victory in a legal battle against a famous northern automotive brand. Great Wall Motors sued six self-media bloggers for allegedly “insulting and defaming” the company, causing significant harm. The total claimed compensation amounted to 25 million yuan, and in the end, Great Wall Motors lost the lawsuit.