A major European automotive company was forced to transfer the deputy general director of its Chinese company to another position. As a result, he stopped working and after a year sued the company for remuneration and payment of bonuses as if he had been working for the company all the time. The defendant company, represented by Hanglung Law, replied that the financial bonuses depended on the company’s performance, and plaintiff was present during the management board’s determination of the amount of the “pure profit” bonuses. Therefore, there were no grounds to pay the bonus for the year for which the plaintiff claimed the bonus. The defendants also claimed that he did not deserve a bonus for the year of the change in position, especially as the companies to which he was delegated also recorded losses for the year in question. Therefore, it would be unreasonable to pay any bonus, considering the losses from the previous year and the dismissal of the plaintiff from his position. The court confirmed that the employment contract was terminated in accordance with law. It decided that part of the payment should be made, as the change in the plaintiff’s position took place for reasons beyond his control. On appeal, the judgment of the court of first instance was upheld. RMB 770,001.05 was awarded to the plaintiff, with the value of the plaintiff’s claims at the time of filing the suit totaling approximately RMB 4.5 million.
