Chapter 14.1 “Husband? Where’s my husband? What are you talking about?”

Name:You're Fired! Author:酒煮核弹头
Bai Duanduan had a good night’s sleep and went to the office in full spirit the next day.

Although the results of Xu Zhixin’s case were not satisfactory, at least she had done her best to fight for it even when Xu Zhixin concealed the truth. If Jiang Guang Electronics had changed to some other lawyers, then in that situation she was sure that this case would be won by herself but she eventually lost. Although she was totally unwilling to give in to Ji Lin’s way of dealing, Bai Duanduan was convinced by the loss.

After this temporary emergency case was over, she had another mass layoff case lined up against Ji Lin. Ji Lin was the representing lawyer of a paper manufacturing company called Simon Paper.

That year, due to the increase in labor costs in City A, the stricter environmental protection regulations, the increase in paper production costs and the irregular power restrictions caused due to scarcity of resources. In the global layout, the company eventually decided to withdraw some of its production lines from the Chinese market, and relocate its three production lines to Mexico. As a result, the relocation of these three production lines will directly lead to the lay-off of 300 workers.

Bai Duanduan was the representative lawyer of 300 employees. Each employee had joined the company at different times of the year and had a different contract version. Therefore, once the company dismisses an employee, the compensation plan and economic compensation involved are very different, and they need to be tailored one by one as per each case. In fact, it was a case involving a huge workload.

In the morning, after having a few phone calls with the employee representatives to communicate about the negotiation strategy, Bai Duanduan was ready to start checking the compensation package for each employee one by one.

It’s just that she happened to press the calculator, when she heard a commotion in the main office area. After a while, seven or eight people came in one after another, either carrying a camera or holding a lighting tool. It was obviously a recording team.

“Dear lawyers and teachers, please cooperate with each of us to shoot a Vlog. You can talk about your usual work preferably on topics such as, what odd or wonderful client you dealt with or What tricky cases you have encountered. We will edit and broadcast it later. The publicity effect will be very good…”

Bai Duanduan was interrupted in her work and frowned, so she poked Zhang Junda who was sitting next to her, “What’s going on?”

Zhang Junda lowered his voice, “Partner Lin Hui signed up for a variety show called ‘Legal and Political Career Dream’. In the upcoming days, this recording team will be stationed with us for a few months to shoot our work status.”

Bai Duanduan’s face was incomprehensible, “What is there to film about our workplace status? Most of the time we’re just working on the desk, plus communicating with clients on the phone, and we’re very professional. To be honest, who watches these kinds of shows? How many ratings does this thing have?”

“No, this has a script.” Zhang Junda winked at Bai Duanduan, “You hadn’t returned from B City at that time, so you don’t know. All of us have a script. What to say and do in front of the camera, all the general directions are specified for you, including hiring someone to play a client and tearing up and arguing with us. The script was written with quite a lot of ups and downs. I think if this was recorded and broadcasted, the ratings would not be bad. Lin Hui said that it could bring a wave of popularity and fame to our law firm. After that, he seemed to have contacted a crew to shoot legal dramas. They said that they would come to us for filming. They are all first-line celebrities and the show will definitely explode…”

Zhang Junda was still enthusiastically speaking, however Bai Duanduan could not listen to any more.

In fact, since a year ago, she has quite disagreed with some of Lin Hui’s decisions. The law firm was a very serious workplace, especially because it involved a large amount of private information of the parties. The confidentiality had to be very strongly maintained, so it was not suitable for such a large scale shooting and filming. ;

Luckily, since Bai Duanduan had just returned to headquarters in A City, there was obviously no part for her in the script, so she chose not to see it. She simply puts on her headphones and starts processing her work. Fortunately, after a short while, the recording team had finally collected the material for the day and left ZhaoHui office.

It was just not long after it had been quiet that the office began to be noisy again. Bai Duanduan wanted to concentrate on her work, but was interrupted by a loud shrill sharp cry.

“You are not a lawyer at all, it is a complete fraud! It’s deception!” The owner of the voice was a middle-aged woman in her forties, wearing a cheap coat, her face was pale, her eyes were red and swollen, covered with tears, and she was holding a pile of documents in her hand, looking very emotional and desperate.

Opposite to her stood the exquisitely dressed Du Xinyi, who was calm compared to her opponent’s breakdown that she simply stepped back in disgust, “Auntie, you are sick, aren’t you? I didn’t give you the verdict, did I? It was handed down by the court. If you want to make a scene, go to the judge, what’s it to do with me?”

Lin Hui was not at the Firm, so she didn’t even bother to pretend.

Bai Duanduan pulled Zhang Junda near her and whispered, “What’s the matter? This woman is Du Xinyi’s client? Didn’t get the ideal judgment?”

“No.” Zhang Junda whispered back, “She is the employee whom Du Xinyi’s client wants to fire. Du Xinyi is the agent of the company, and the woman is the employee who was fired.”

Bai Duanduan was still unclear, but soon, she knew what was going on.

The middle-aged woman’s voice almost tore at her heart, “I’m just a woman with little education, so of course I can’t fight someone with knowledge like you, but is this how you lawyers, who are more educated than us, bully people? You were the one who said that the company had no choice but to lay off its staff, so you negotiated with me nicely and said that you would give me financial compensation in a good amount, and made me promised that I should sign the consensus termination of my employment contract next week, but it turned out that this was all a trap!”

“You also made it clear that in view of the company’s layoffs, I would be paid my salary this month and my social security and provident fund would be paid as usual. You said I can submit my resume first to another company, or I can go to an interview at any time during this month without having to report to the company, so as to facilitate my finding a new job, which was also considered as the company’s compensation and consideration for me. Later you slandered me in the court by saying that these three days were unexcused absences and that I had committed a serious disciplinary offense, so the company could unilaterally terminate my contract without paying me the rest of the financial compensation! But I didn’t break the rules at all! You told me that I could go for an interview at any time during the month!”

Du Xinyi didn’t care about the other party’s accusation. She sneered and said with an arrogant look, “Oh? Did I say that? Auntie, don’t you know that you need evidence to support your accusations? Just because you say that does it mean I have really said it? If you have the guts, show me the evidence. If you don’t have evidence, what nonsense are you talking about here?”

This middle-aged woman was angry and resentful, “You woman, you are really evil! This is simply a scam! You all spoke to me face to face, how would an ordinary little citizen like me think of recording all my conversations with you? I thought the company was really humane, but I didn’t realize that you had simply set it up!”

“The law clearly states that your absenteeism is absenteeism. If the company is still paying your wages this month, then you are still an employee of the company this month. If you do not come to work, of course, you have to fulfill the company’s leave request process. Who gave you the courage to let you talk to yourself and not come?” Du Xinyi ruffled her long hair, “You don’t study the law yourself, but if you are absent from work without any prior notice it is counted as a breach of contract, and the company has the right to fire you. Is the court’s judgment wrong?”

“The court’s judgment is right, but you deceived people like this. Won’t your conscience be uneasy?!” The middle-aged woman couldn’t care less about her manners at this moment, her tears kept falling, “My family is only supported by my salary, are you a human being? You are a vicious woman, are you not afraid of retribution and……”

Unfortunately, she didn’t have a chance to finish her complaint. Soon, the security guard of the office property came, and immediately dragged the middle-aged woman away, and the large office area regained its calmness.

However, Bai Duanduan’s heart was not very calm. Du Xinyi’s operation was not uncommon in labor disputes. A soldier was never  tired of treachery. In order to reduce costs and layoffs, it can be said that everything can be done. Lawyers provide this kind of layoff plan for the company. It was also normal. But Bai Duanduan has always disdained to win cases by bullying the weak and taking advantage of the other party’s complete ignorance of legal traps.

It’s too much like fraud, too invincible, and too lacking in the spirit of contract.