Chapter 24 - 22: Who Said Darts Can’t Pierce People?

Even his young apprentice, Jiang Lin, was called into the general manager’s office.

When he came out, Jiang Lin looked a bit dazed. He hurried over to tip Chen Jue off, "Brother Jue! The company isn’t planning to give us the N+1 severance pay!"

After an embellished account, Chen Jue got the gist of the situation.

The bosses had discussed it and decided that since there was no money on the books, they might as well just lay their cards on the table with the employees.

Taisheng Finance was originally scheduled to liquidate and dissolve next month. Now that the chairman had absconded, it was impossible to get the other shareholders to inject more capital.

So, the bosses put their heads together and decided to target the employees’ severance packages, changing the N+1 compensation to just one month’s salary.

For over fifty employees in the whole company, the original N+1 plan would have required a payout of several million in compensation.

But Taisheng Finance was out of money now. How the hell were they supposed to pay?

So, Zhou Yong and the others resorted to a carrot-and-stick approach. On one hand, they pretended to help employees find new jobs; on the other, they threatened that if anyone refused to sign the revised severance agreement, they wouldn’t get a new job offer or the one month’s salary.

Besides, the company was dissolving anyway. After such a disastrous implosion, they could drag out payments for years with no consequences, washing their hands of the whole affair.

"You signed it?"

Chen Jue glanced at his naive young apprentice, who nodded quickly like a frightened deer. It was clearly his first encounter with the dark side of the workplace.

"Everyone who went in signed! And President Zhou said that if we don’t, he’ll make sure we can’t survive in this industry," Jiang Lin replied with a bitter expression.

He only earned 7,000 a month. Losing out on a month’s salary would naturally put a huge strain on his finances.

"You... you’re still too young!" Seeing this, Chen Jue shook his head, not knowing what to say about this whole mess.

...

After about half an hour, it was Chen Jue’s turn to go into the boss’s office.

Zhou Yong was sitting on the sofa, brewing kung fu tea. The HR lady, Sister Li, was keeping him company.

One look at the stack of signed and thumb-printed severance agreements on the coffee table told Chen Jue that most of the staff had foolishly fallen for the bosses’ scheme.

"Chen Jue, you should be aware of the situation by now, right?"

"You’re a veteran of the company, and you’ve always been a reasonable person. Right now, there’s no money in the company accounts, so we can’t pay the full severance. That’s why we’ve revised the agreement."

"Take a look first. If you agree, just sign it. Then I’ll help you out by referring your resume to a guarantor company I know. You’ll be able to start your new job right away." Zhou Yong began to play the sympathy card.

Chen Jue took the agreement, glanced at it, and said with a helpless look, "President Zhou, don’t worry about finding me a job. I need to take some time off to recover from an illness."

"Recovering from an illness?"

"Oh, right! I heard from Lili yesterday that you took sick leave to get a check-up. How did it go?" Zhou Yong’s brow furrowed for a moment before he started feigning concern.

"The results weren’t good. The doctor said two of my organs need to be removed. The medical bills will be expensive, so I was waiting for the N+1 payment to come through before having the surgery," Chen Jue shrugged.

The boss was playing the sympathy card, so he played the victim.

’Anyway, Chen Jue was telling the truth. Whether they believed him or not was their problem.’

"That serious?"

Zhou Yong first showed a hint of worry, then put on a troubled expression. "Ah, Chen Jue! The company really has no money in its accounts right now, and the upcoming liquidation will incur a lot of expenses. We shareholders have discussed it. Even when the profit rebates come in, there’s no way we can continue to pay you all the N+1 severance."

"Unless the money Chairman Zhang ran off with can be recovered, but that’s a matter for the Government Office. We can’t guarantee anything."

Seeing Zhou Yong’s evasive attitude, Chen Jue really wanted to spit in his face.

When the incident happened the day before yesterday, the Government Office was present, and the bosses swore that salaries would be paid as usual.

But as soon as the officials were gone, they went back on their word completely.

It really proved that in finance, profit is all that matters.

They don’t care about any professional relationships. Once you sign the papers, you’re out the door, and you’ll probably never see each other again for the rest of your lives.

"President Zhou! If there’s no N+1, I’m definitely not signing this severance agreement."

"The company having no money is something you shareholders should be worried about. If I don’t get my compensation, I’ll file for labor arbitration. I have my employment contract, so even if the company dissolves, you can’t just run away." Chen Jue spread his hands, his tone also tinged with helplessness.

"Labor arbitration?"

"If we don’t pay the N+1, you’re going to sue us?"

"Chen Jue, we’ve worked together for almost four years. Do you really have to be so ruthless?" Zhou Yong frowned, feigning surprise.

At this point, Sister Li, who was sitting nearby, chimed in, saying things like the bosses didn’t have it easy either. With the chairman having run off with the money, the fact they could still scrape together one month’s salary was as benevolent as they could be. She hoped that Chen Jue, as a veteran employee, could be more understanding.

Unfortunately for them, Chen Jue wasn’t buying it. He spent the whole time insisting that he didn’t have it easy either.

’Of course, Chen Jue could guess that Sister Li had definitely secured her own N+1 package, and had probably even been secretly promised more benefits by the bosses. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be siding with them like this.’

"In that case, there’s nothing more to talk about. Go ahead and sue!"

"With the company’s current situation, a lawsuit could drag on for years, even a decade. You won’t see a single penny."

"If you dare to sue us, we shareholders have some influence here in Hang City. We’ll make sure that not a single guarantor company in this city will ever dare to hire you!"

Seeing that Chen Jue wouldn’t budge and was dead set on getting the original severance package, Zhou Yong dropped the act and started making outright threats.