iPhone manufacturer to pay family of dead worker

Foxconn, the company that manufactures Apple's iPhone and iPods, has agreed to compensate the family of a Chinese worker who apparently committed suicide over a missing prototype.

A Foxconn official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Tuesday the company will give Sun Danyong's parents a one-time payment of 360,000 yuan ($52,600), according to an Associated Press report. The company also agreed to pay an additional 30,000 yuan ($4,385) for each year either of the parents is alive, the AP said.

That figure is higher than that reported Monday by The New York Times, which stated that the family was receiving 300,000 Chinese renminbi, or about $44,000, and that his girlfriend was getting an Apple laptop.

Sun, who was 25, apparently jumped to his death on July 16 after allegedly losing a fourth-generation iPhone prototype that he was responsible for.

Apple expressed regret over Sun's death and said last week that it was "awaiting results of the investigations into his death."

Foxconn apparently suspended a security official after Sun's death, and the case was turned over to Chinese authorities to investigate. The security officer denied beating Sun but did acknowledge that he became "a little angry," according to The New York Times.

Foxconn General Manager James Lee said this wasn't the first time products given to Sun had gone missing, the New York Times reported. "Several times he had some products missing, then he got them back," Lee said. "We don't know who took the product, but it was at his stop."

Foxconn reportedly has not been able to locate the missing prototype.

[DMAN3k]

And Apple gave Sun's girlfriend a MacBook... This is more ridiculous than that low-amount of compensation Foxconn is giving his parents.

According to the Church of Steve Jobs:
Another person's life = MacBook
His own life = tons of anonymous donations to a certain Methodist hospital in Memphis, TN

[The_happy_switcher]

How is this Apple's fault this guy took a header off a tall building and somehow have to compensate his family?And what does Steve Jobs liver transplant have to do with this story?

[monkeyfun14]

@The_happy_switcher

Why so much pressure over a stupid phone?

Once again your blaming the victim.

[The_happy_switcher]

@monkey: He victimized himself. Clearly anyone that jumps off a building has other issues. I hardly think this was the sole issue that drove him over the edge.

[monkeyfun14]

His coworkers were beating him over it.

Failure is already considered a strong disgrace in China just that alone will cause someone to kill themselves his co workers beating him multiplies this.

[sodapop2k9]

Why is this guy's family even being compensated at all? Fail at your ob and get rewarded? The guy took his own life, the company didnt cause it. The killed himself, the company didnt fail. The guy was 25... were his parents legal dependents? And why should the girlfriend get any thing at all? She didn't make a legal commitment to him, why should his employer or Apple? Its absolute insanity to think any one BUT Apple deserves compensation (for the missing trade secrets). ...Although the compensation is a nice gesture.

[monkeyfun14]

@sodapop

Are you seriously going to post something like that?

[jpg27]

@monkeyfun when you do business in a largely competitive environment there has to be pressure. Especially if your prototype device is lost and could be in the hands of your competitor. That could cost Apple millions/billions or whatever. I do believe the guy who committed suicide and his company is to blame really. If he knew he was responsible and his co-workers were beating him over it all he should have done was resign. The company is responsible if they knew the guy was suicidal and did nothing to stop it. So monkeyfun it is indeed stupid to ask 'why so much pressure over a stupid phone' without knowing the incident in its totality. People deal with situations in different ways. It could have been worse as some people go further and take their whole family with them. I like the idea of the compensation but the present of an Apple Laptop to the gf is downright crappy.

[renGek]

So generous. Somehow they were smart enough to figure out that a human life is worth $52,600 + $4385/year

[MasterChefD]

Given the cost of living and depending on how you live 360,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan/year in China can be roughly the equivalent of $360,000 and $30,000/year in the US, respectively.

I'm not defending Foxconn or saying the price on a life, but their offer isn't as poor as it seems.

[Tod Smith]

Good old Apple!

[ikramerica--2008]

It's easy to confuse, because c.net is not giving all the information about Foxconn. They make it sound, in this article and others, like Foxconn is an arm of Apple, when in fact, this company manufacturers products for Apple and all of it's major competitors.

C.net, if they are actually a news organization, should mention that "Foxconn is the largest manufacturer of electronics and computer components worldwide, and mainly manufactures on contract to other companies."

They build the iPods, iPhones and mac Minis, Intel motherboards for intel, the PS2 and PS3, the Wii, the Amazon Kindle, and cell phones for many major companies, and cisco products, among other things.

Foxconn is a larger company than Apple. Apple is simply one of their customers. And Apple is not happy about this whole situation, but that's what they get for allowing Foxconn to manufacture products in China instead of Taiwan where they used to contract for Apple. China is a human rights disaster...

[ulric2]

you mean they paid the family so that they don't ask for a criminal inquiry...

[despin]

I have to agree with The_happy_switcher why should anyone pay anything because someone stressed out and commited suicide. There is more to the story that we are not being told. Perhaps he had "help" commiting suicide. In either case the truth has already been buried and we will never know the whole truth.

[ikramerica--2008]

I think a read between the lines is he was thrown off the building, except, how does that get Foxconn the IT back? They claim this guy has "lost things before" but that may be true, or it may be the excuse these unscrupulous people are using.

[nlakin]

I think some of you are confused. Foxconn (Apple's vendor) is compensating, not Apple.

[omikay]

nlakin is right. it does not say the laptow is coming from apple, just they she is getting and apple laptop. apple is not being held responsible for the death as far as I know, but they are still not happy about it.

[golf11]

No iPhone is worth the loss of life...strike that, no piece of electronics is worth the loss of life. If they were made here, the leaker could be sued for breach of confidentiality agreement. This is what happens when goods are manufactured in places that put little value on human rights. We'd all pay more, but no one would be dead because an item goes missing.

[sciontcya]

I wonder how much of this trying to connect the dotted-lines you do-gooders do over anything you own other than an Apple product?
My guess: NONE.
Why? Because you guys here that don't have any human interaction have nothing better to do.
Apple is no more responsible for this guy's suicide than GM would be if a Michelin worker popped himself in France after giving up a secret rubber formula.
Grow up - quit trying to save the world with BS.

[baconstang]

This is about Foxconn, not Apple.

[topgunb2]

@baconstang you are so blinded by apple and its product that if Apple starts shooting its employees for low productivity you'll still support that

[sharmajunior]

Many people don't know how the Chinese authorities operate. THey are the masters at controlling how a news story is displayed to the public.

I wouldn't be surprised that they kicked him and punched until he was unconscious and then threw him off a building for disgracing China's image in front of a MNC. Look at how they control the way people look at things on the internet over there. Its not a big deal for them. THey have 2 billion people living there. If they lose one, they'll just get a new one and tell the new one what an idiot the last one was.

[poemcode]

As a Chinese people living in south China, I only say : you don't understand China, your world is not right. Truth doesn't matter with where you are in China or other place. By the way, we have 1.3 billion people. Please open your eyes, see the truth!