Jkos Network Co (街口網絡) founder and chief operating officer Kevin Hu (胡亦嘉) on Tuesday said that he fired the founders and staff members of newly acquired iPeen (愛評網) because they had been absent from work or refused to fulfill their tasks.
Jkopay Co (街口電子支付), a subsidiary of Jkos Network, on March 21 acquired iPeen, which was previously owned by China’s Meituan Dianping (美團點評).
iPeen is one of the nation’s leading recommendation and lifestyle information portals.
Hu last week faced criticism for dismissing iPeen’s all 16 employees, including its three founders, less than one month after acquiring the company.
Former iPeen employees on Monday last week sought help from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Wan-ju (余宛如) and independent Taipei City Councilor Chiu Wei-Chief (邱威傑), accusing Hu of wrongful dismissal.
Hu on Tuesday said that he did not breach the Labor Standards Act (勞基法).
On April 1, he dismissed the three founders and five employees for being absent last month, and on April 2, he discharged another eight employees for their reluctance to finish their work, Hu told a news conference in Taipei.
“The three founders had no clock-in record from January to March, and the same went for some salesmen, so we had to let them go,” he said.
He asked the remaining eight employees to fulfill 34 services contracts that iPeen’s clients had paid for, but they refused, Hu said.
Their termination is in line with Article 12 of the act, which stipulates that employers can fire workers who are absent from work for three consecutive days without good reason or those who seriously contravene their labor contract or work rules, he said.
“I never intended to fire any iPeen employees when taking over the firm, as iPeen was a famous locally developed firm and its salesmen had good skills. I actually looked forward to collaborating with them before the dispute,” Hu said.
He said he was disappointed when the iPeen employees refused to work with him.
They were reluctant to share iPeen business information and have their computers tested for security reasons, Hu said.
The company paid its three founders an annual salary of NT$3.5 million (US$113,460) each, which was not reasonable and was not disclosed in the information for due diligence, he said.
“Their paychecks did not make sense to me, as iPeen had a negative net value and was losing about NT$1 million per month. So I asked them if it was possible to adjust their pay, but I did not force them to accept my proposal,” Hu said.
Hu said that iPeen would continue to operate and he is willing to have the 13 former staff members return to the company.
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