Family Of Dead Chinese Worker Awarded Compensation: $44,000 And a MacBook
7:14 am, July 27th, 2009, Leander Kahney
Former Foxconn employee Sun Danyong, who apparently committed suicide after losing an iPhone protoype.
The family of the Foxconn employee who reportedly committed suicide over a lost iPhone prototype has been compensated for his death, even though the company suspects him of industrial espionage, the New York Times reports.
The family of Sun Danyong, 25, received 300,000 renminbi, or more than $44,000, and his girlfriend got a new Apple laptop.
However, Foxconn, which makes iPods and iPhones under contract to Apple, says the employee had a history of suspiciously “losing” products, suggesting he might be involved in industrial espionage.
“The case also underscores the challenges that global companies face in trying to safeguard their designs and intellectual property in the hotly contested smartphone market, particularly here in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, an electronics manufacturing center known for piracy and counterfeiting,” the Times says.
On July 16, Danyong apparently leaped to his death from the 12th floor of an dormitory building on Foxconn’s giant factory campus. Sun was being investigated by Foxconn security after allegedly losing an iPhone prototype he was supposed to mail to Apple in California.
He failed to report the prototype missing for three days, the company says, and his explanation “did not seem credible and that he had had problems before.”
“Several times he had some products missing, then he got them back,” the company told the Times. “We don’t know who took the product, but it was at his stop.”
The company says his death was a suicide. Reports suggest Sun was beaten and “humiliated” by Foxconn security investigating the lost prototype. The company has suspended a security guard pending a police investigation.
The Times‘ reporter, David Barboza, spoke to the company and the employee’s family, and was given a partial tour of the plant. However, he didn’t get many answers.
The family is puzzled by his death, saying he was honest and would never steal prototype products.
His girlfriend posted his last text message to her shortly before he died.
“Dear, I’m sorry. Go back home tomorrow,” he wrote. “I ran into some problems. Don’t tell my family. Don’t contact me. I’m begging you for the first time. Please do it! I’m sorry.”
The family suggests he committed suicide as a form of revenge on the company for mistreating him. “He was extremely angry at Foxconn,” his brother said. “They humiliated him and he wanted to resist the company, and planned to do something big.”
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, News, iPhone | Comment on this article
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hey, maybe If I jump out of a window, I’ll get a new MacBook!!!!
Eric, on July 27th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Hey, at least it’s better then a bill for the “bullet”.
And if you jumped out of a window, you wouldn’t be able to use your new macbook. The trick is you have to die for it. And that guy had a way better job then you. So there for, you wouldn’t merit a macbook. Maybe an Eee PC or a used G3.
dadsgravy, on July 27th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Maybe unintentional given the currency conversion here, but Chinese superstitions in the fore: “4″ is an unlucky number because it can be read as “sei”, or DEATH.
In any case, this is sad.
Torley, on July 27th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Well as long as she got a laptop. That makes everything alright. Right?
nthn, on July 27th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Sounds like hush money to me. Foxconn trying to keep things on the down low?
Yeags, on July 27th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
[...] I told you last week about an engineering graduate working for Foxconn in Shenzhen, China, who reportedly killed himself by an iPhone 4.0 prototype that went lost in his care. Although Foxconn still claims Sun Danyong was engaging in industrial espionage, the company compensated his family $44,000 and gave his girlfriend an Apple MacBook. (props to Cult of Mac) [...]
Money and MacBook for family of iPhone suicide guy | Gizmo News, on July 31st, 2009 at 1:31 pm
[...] I told you last week about an engineering graduate working for Foxconn in Shenzhen, China, who reportedly killed himself by an iPhone 4.0 prototype that went lost in his care. Although Foxconn still claims Sun Danyong was engaging in industrial espionage, the company compensated his family $44,000 and gave his girlfriend an Apple MacBook. (props to Cult of Mac) [...]
Money and MacBook for family of iPhone suicide guy | Electronics 411, on August 13th, 2009 at 8:20 am
ha i think i will get a macbook to if i jump out the window!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhh
brian, on January 28th, 2010 at 10:01 am