China man dies from organ failure after working 104 days with 1 day off, court find company 20% responsible

Mass layoffs, zero work-life balance, hospitalisations and now... deaths. 'Corporate culture' almost sounds like a misnomer at this point; to have culture means to celebrate the customs and ideas of a community and to be able to create a distinct mark on the world by doing so. But that somehow is not the case here.

Only recently there was a story on a Wells Fargo employee who was found dead at her desk four days after last clocking in. She would probably not even have been noticed missing was it not for the foul odour that started emanating from her cubicle. Earlier this month, an entrepreneur from Mumbai shared how he ended up in the hospital after suffering a terrible headache and countless bouts of vomiting. He found the culprit to be the exhaustive hours he was putting in at work and barely sleeping or eating enough. Sadly, this recent case is yet another drop in that dark ocean. A 30-year-old man from China reportedly died due to multiple organ failure after working an exhaustive 104 days with just one day off.

How did the man die after working 104 days with one day off?

Sadly, for the 30-year-old, even his death wasn't enough it seems; a court in Zhejiang province found the company to be only '20 per cent responsible.'

According to the South China Morning Post, the man identified as A¡¯bao contracted a pneumococcal infection that arises when the immune system is weak and eventually succumbed to multiple organ failure.

There was widespread outrage following the news of A'bao's death. The report explains that A'bao was signed on to work as a painter for a company whose name was withheld by the court. He began with a project in Zhoushan and clocked in a whopping 104 days of work between February and May of 2023.

In all these days of work, he only got April 6 off. He then reported feeling unwell on May 25 and his condition worsened three days later. After his colleagues got him admitted to a hospital, it was found that he had a lung infection and had suffered respiratory failure. He succumbed to the infection on June 1.

What did the investigation reveal?

According to SCMP, officials did not classify A¡¯bao¡¯s death as work-related, following which his family took the matter to court, alleging employer negligence and asking for compensation.

While the company argued that his workload was manageable and any extra hours he may have put in were voluntary, the court found 104 straight days of work to be a violation of Chinese Labour Law, eventually holding the company 20 per cent liable in the case of A'bao's death. The family was awarded a compensation of US$ 56,000 (Rs 47,00,000 lakh, roughly).

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