Foxconn Ends Suicide Payments to Families

Says 'condolence' payouts of 10 years' wages were acting as incentives

By Jane Yager, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 9, 2010 8:33 AM CDT

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Foxconn Ends Suicide Payments to Families — In this photo taken on Feb. 25, 2010, job-seekers rest on a pedestrian bridge near a factory of the Foxconn Technology Group at Longhua in Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong province. (AP Photo)

The suicide-plagued Chinese electronics plant Foxconn will no longer be giving money to the families of employees who kill themselves. The company, which previously paid victims' families more than $14,000 each—equivalent to 10 years' wages—explained the move by saying it fears the generous compensation was motivating workers to commit suicide.

Foxconn says it has evidence that at least one worker who attempted suicide told his family they would receive a large sum of money if he killed himself. The Foxconn CEO also said a Chinese government investigation has found that none of the suicides were related to working conditions at the plant—and that these findings "prove" the company is not to blame, BBC reports.
(More Foxconn stories.)

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