Image credit: Visual China
Recently, the news of a salesperson from Muyuan Meat Products Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Muyuan Meat Products"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Muyuan Foods Co., Ltd. (002714.SZ), who died suddenly, has caused social concern.
It is understood that on the morning of January 1, 2023, Muyuan Meat Products salesperson Jiang Dengshuai was found dead on his dormitory bed by his colleagues. After Jiang Dengshuai's sudden death, Muyuan Meat Products sent three people, including a lawyer, to Hangzhou to handle the aftermath with his family. On January 8, 2023, Jiang Dengshuai's body was cremated hastily without being subjected to an autopsy or a determination of cause of death and time of death.
However, the mystery of when and why Jiang Dengshuai died remains unsolved, and the absence of this time point has led to difficulties in determining whether he died of work-related injury or death. Jiang Dengshuai's wife, Feng Wanwan, claimed that her husband had been in a high-intensity work state since he joined the company and worked until after 3am the day before he died, which led to overwork and death and should be recognized as a work-related injury.
However, the mystery of when and why Jiang Dengshuai died remains unsolved, and the absence of this time point has led to difficulties in determining whether he died of work-related injury or death. Jiang Dengshuai's wife, Feng Wanwan, claimed that her husband had been in a high-intensity work state since he joined the company and worked until after 3am the day before he died, which led to overwork and death and should be recognized as a work-related injury.
However, the two work-related injury application requests have been rejected by the Nenxiang County Bureau of Social Security. Later, the family filed an administrative lawsuit to the Nenxiang County People's Court. On July 16, the case was heard in the Nenxiang County People's Court.
The relevant person in charge of Muyuan Foods stated that they are actively communicating and dealing with the event.
Meeting until 4 a.m. the day before he died.
According to the communication record between Jiang Dengshuai and his colleague and Feng Wanwan, Jiang Dengshuai joined the Muyuan Group at the beginning of 2022 and was dispatched to Hangzhou to work as a salesperson.
The WeChat work record provided by Feng Wanwan shows that on December 20, 2022, Jiang Dengshuai was infected with COVID-19 and had a high fever of 37.9 ℃. However, the stationmaster in Hangzhou where he worked asked in the work group on December 21, "person with fever can arrange to visit market customers".
On December 29, 2022, the symptoms of Jiang Dengshuai seemed not to have improved significantly, and he coughed repeatedly and occasionally felt discomfort in his chest. At about 7 p.m. that day, he sent a WeChat message to his college classmate saying that he was "infected" and had been coughing, feeling that his lungs were not right. Perhaps because he could no longer bear it, he finally said he was going to buy some medicine, "very uncomfortable".
However, Jiang Dengshuai waited until 4 p.m. the next day to go to the hospital. From the clock-in record and WeChat chat screenshot, he was busy with work. On the evening of December 30th, he visited clients. Around 4 p.m. that day, Jiang Dengshuai went to the hospital because of chest pain, and he was still working before and after the hospital visit. A work WeChat record shows that an hour before the hospital visit, Jiang Dengshuai was still working with his colleagues on an outside trip; after the visit, he was still communicating work information with clients through WeChat.
The medical record of Jiang Dengshuai on that day showed that he had sudden chest pain with a main focus on the precordial region and a persistent dull pain accompanied by dizziness, coughing and sputum for several days. The hospital diagnosed him with a lung infection.
According to the communication record between Jiang Dengshuai and his colleague and Feng Wanwan, the meeting at his station was opened until nearly 4 a.m. on the morning of December 31. Jiang's colleague said "can't keep my eyes open", while Jiang Dengshuai believed that the content of the meeting was "some unproductive things" and "routine business".
On the night of December 30th, while handling work, Jiang Dengshuai's station also held a meeting until nearly 4 a.m. on December 31st. While handling work, he was woken up by the station master to go grocery shopping and cook, and communicated with business partners about logistics information.
At around 9 o'clock on the morning of January 1, 2023, Jiang Dengshuai was found unconscious on his dormitory bed and did not respond to calls. His colleagues quickly dialed 120, but it was too late.
The emergency medical record of Hangzhou Emergency Center showed that when the ambulance arrived, Jiang Dengshuai's body had already stiffened, and livor mortis was visible, so he was judged dead on the spot, but at the request of his colleagues, he was sent to the nearest hospital, but he did not recover his spontaneous heartbeat or breathing after arrival at the hospital.
Not recognized as work-related injury twice
Normally, work-related injuries are determined by the social insurance administrative department, namely the Bureau of Social Security. After the recognition is successful, the close relatives of the deceased can receive funeral subsidies, support for family members and a one-time work-related death benefit from the work-related injury insurance fund.
However, Jiang Dengshuai's work-related injury application requests were not approved smoothly. The Nenxiang County Bureau of Social Security issued two "decisions not to recognize work-related injuries" on July 10, 2023 and December 18, 2023, respectively. Later, in April of this year, the Nenxiang County government also made an "administrative reconsideration decision", stating that it did not support the applicant's request for reconsideration. In the decision, the Nenxiang County government also directly admitted that Jiang Dengshuai's body was not examined after his death, which made it impossible to further determine his exact time of death and cause of death.
It is reported that as early as 2-3 days after Jiang Dengshuai's death on January 3, 2023, a Huang surname legal staff member representing Muyuan Meat Products signed an agreement with Jiang Dengshuai's family.
According to the agreement, Moyuan Meat will communicate with the local social security bureau concerning the matter of Jiang Dengshuai's death, and be responsible for preparing relevant materials and filling in application information. The relatives need to fully cooperate with the work of Party A, and provide the relevant documents (including but not limited to the copy of Jiang Dengshuai's ID card, death certificate, and household registration cancellation certificate) as required by the social security bureau and Party A. They must also strictly keep the related information confidential and ensure that they do not inform any third party. If Party B fails to cooperate or informs any third party about the matter, Party B will be responsible for the corresponding responsibilities. In addition, the agreement also stipulates that both parties have no other objections or disputes regarding this matter and will not seek responsibility or compensation from the other party anymore. Both parties shall not make any comments or statements in any form (including but not limited to media, magazines, and the Internet) about this matter. Otherwise, the victim will pursue the responsibility of the other party.
Qin Yong, a lawyer from Beijing Huayi Law Firm, believes that this is an obviously unequal agreement, and the relatives have not only received no substantive commitments in the agreement, but also have had their two legal rights restricted. According to Article 17 of the Work Injury Insurance Regulations, if it is a work injury, Moyuan Meat, as the employer, has an obligation to apply to the social security bureau for recognition; if the company does not apply, the relatives can apply on their own.
According to Moyuan's response to the media, at that time, due to the just lifting of the COVID-19 epidemic control, it was inconvenient to transport Jiang Dengshuai's body back. In order to reassure the family members, Moyuan promised to apply for work injury treatment in the form of an agreement, in order to "solve the problem as soon as possible".
According to Interface News, Jiang Dengshuai's relatives, in the grief of losing their loved ones, believed that since the agreement had been signed, they chose to believe in the "well-known listed company." Feng Wanwan said that after the agreement was signed, the relatives returned to their hometown in Henan to prepare for mourning matters. On January 8th, Jiang Dengshuai's body was cremated.
According to Article 15(1) of the Work Injury Insurance Regulations, if a worker dies suddenly due to illness during working hours and at the workplace or dies within 48 hours after rescue is ineffective, this is regarded as a work injury.
According to the reply from the Regulations Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on how to understand Article 15(1) of the Work Injury Insurance Regulations, the understanding and application of the "regarded as work-related injury" provision in this regulation shall be strictly based on the four elements of working time, working position, sudden illness, and direct hospital rescue. It should be grasped with simultaneity and coherence. The specific situations mainly include: (1) when a worker dies of sudden illness at his or her work position during working hours; (2) when a worker has a sudden illness at his or her work position during working hours, and the situation is urgent, he or she is sent directly to a hospital or medical institution for immediate rescue, and dies within 48 hours, etc.
Based on this, the social security bureau believes that in other situations, if a worker becomes ill and dies while working or at their work position but does not receive immediate medical attention, but instead returns home to rest, and dies within 48 hours, it should not be regarded as a work-related injury.
However, on December 30, 2022, Jiang Dengshuai went to the hospital after which he returned to the station on December 31, 2022 and worked on some matters. On January 1, 2023 at 9 a.m., he was found dead. Based on this, the local social security department believed that the time from Jiang Dengshuai's visit to the hospital to his death was not coherent and that he died in the dormitory bed instead of at work with no evidence that he worked on the day of his death. It can be seen that Jiang Dengshuai was not in a working state when he became ill, so it cannot be considered a sudden illness at a work position.
The relatives do not agree with the conclusion of the local social security bureau. One of the focuses of dispute between the two parties is whether Jiang Dengshuai's dormitory where he died can be recognized as a workplace.
As Feng's agent, lawyer Hao Zhengxin from Beijing Guannan Law Firm stated that the "Work-Related Injury Certificate not Recognized Decision" and the "Administrative Reconsideration Decision" incorrectly identified the facts and failed to investigate Jiang Dengshuai's overtime and other situations. They did not explain the extension of Jiang Dengshuai's job position and neglected the important fact that Jiang Dengshuai died at his workplace and during working hours.
In addition, Hao Zhengxin pointed out that the above two decisions misunderstood and applied the Regulations Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's reply on how to understand Article 15(1), and did not take into account the fact that the worker was working or resting in the worker's job position or dormitory and was not going home, as well as ignoring relevant judicial precedents.
According to the labor contract signed between Jiang Dengshuai and Moyuan Meat during his lifetime, Jiang Dengshuai's working hours in Moyuan Meat were arranged under the "undetermined working hours system." This is a working hour system that cannot be measured by standard working hours due to operational characteristics, working special requirements, or jurisdictional relationships.
Xiang Chunhua, a lecturer at the China Institute of Labor Relations, stated that the standard for work injury cases is currently different in various regions, which brings some difficulties to the judgment of this type of case. In terms of the system, the actual standard for judgment urgently needs to be unified.
"Like a pig, calculating less and contributing more".
In fact, during Jiang Dengshuai's employment at Moyuan Meat, the capacity of the pig industry exploded and the prices were low.
What Jiang Dengshuai was engaged in was the sales of Moyuan's products in the Hangzhou market. According to Jiang Dengshuai's work records, Jiang Dengshuai's daily work mainly includes visiting, developing, and maintaining customers, reporting orders to the company according to customer needs, tracking delivery vehicles and product inspection and quarantine, and customer payment collection, etc.
According to Feng Wanwan, Jiang Dengshuai was very busy at work after joining Moyuan and moving to Hangzhou. He almost never finished work before 10 p.m., and working overtime until dawn was normal.
According to a former colleague of Jiang Dengshuai, who spoke to the media, Jiang Dengshuai was responsible for frozen products, and the delivery time for frozen products was uncertain. Therefore, Jiang Dengshuai often had to track the delivery of vehicles and report inspection and quarantine matters in the evening. Sometimes he did not finish reporting customer orders until after 7 p.m., and when he encountered meetings, he did not have time to eat before the meetings, so he had to eat after the meetings. In addition to the weekly meeting from 8 to 10 p.m. on Fridays, there were also many other meetings, and almost all of them were held in the evening.
The colleague mentioned above also said that at that time, it was the end of the year, and there was a lot of performance pressure in the station, so the meeting on the 30th was unusually long delayed.
And on December 30, 2022, just before his death, Jiang Dengshuai also signed a "Target Commitment Letter" pledging to achieve a monthly sales target of 41 tons.
This is also evident from the annual report. In 2022, Muyuan Foods' pig sales climbed to 61.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 52%. However, compared with the rapid growth of sales, the number of Muyuan's sales staff has decreased. Specifically, the number of sales personnel decreased by 98 in 2022, but facing the increased sales volume, this also means that the performance indicators shouldered by each salesperson have greatly increased.
Muyuan also often calls for employees' "dedication" spirit. In an office building in Nanyang Muyuan, the entire wall is engraved with "Worshipping Pigs," which was written by Muyuan's boss Qin Yinglin, requiring employees to dedicate themselves like pigs, for example, the article mentions repeatedly "Dedicate like a pig, less calculating, more offering," "Be like a pig, offer everything we have frankly," "Let's be silly and happy with pigs and offer ourselves."
Image source: Weibo screenshot
In June of this year, Muyuan Group mentioned in an article published on its WeChat public account that during the 19th Muyuan Pig Breeding Festival, Muyuan's cadre representatives recited "Worshipping Pigs," which is considered a symbol of the highest honor for Muyuan people.
Because she was dissatisfied with the determination result of the Internal County People's Social Bureau, Feng Wanwan subsequently filed an administrative lawsuit with the Internal County People's Court, requesting that the "Decision on Not Recognizing the Work-related Injury" and the "Administrative Reconsideration Decision" made by the Internal County People's Government be revoked, and the Internal County People's Social Bureau be ordered to make a new determination of work-related injury. On July 16th, the case has been heard in the Internal County People's Court.
However, because during the trial, the plaintiff, Ms. Feng, considered that there were overlapping personnel and financial relationships between the Internal County Court and the defendant Internal County People's Social Bureau and Internal County Government, she applied for recusal and hoped that the case could be submitted to the Intermediate People's Court of Nanyang City for jurisdiction.
In view of this, the collegiate bench decided that this case should be submitted to the Intermediate People's Court of Nanyang City for jurisdiction. The presiding judge then announced an adjournment, and the prosecution and defense have not yet made statements and cross-examination on newly discovered facts and evidence. Blue Whale News will continue to follow up on the progress of the case.