Some law experts in China are criticizing a boss in Chengdu who set traps for the company's employees via social media software and punished them, online news portal The Paper reports.
The report says the company's chairman sent a hongbao, or red envelop, worth 60 yuan, to a group on the instant messaging app WeChat to see if the employees focus on social media.
Three employees grabbed the hongbao immediately, but were later fined 500 yuan each.
The names of the boss and the company have not been revealed.
The boss argues that the company is dedicated to the gas business, which requires the full attention of employees.
The company issued a notice at the end of last year, asking employees not to check their social accounts during work.
The punishment caused a hot debate on the Internet. Some netizens said the boss was "fishing" the employees. Others say he was being creative on enterprise management.
Zhou Changzheng, a professor at the Law School of Nanjing University, says enacting economic punishment on employees is a grey area.
The State Council, China's Cabinet published a regulation on rewarding and punishing employees in enterprises in 1993, but the regulation was abolished in 2008.
Zhou said the prevailing laws should be revised as soon as possible to defuse confusion and better regulate enterprises' behavior.
Another expert said the boss should be punished as well since, as a member of the company, the boss should also obey the regulation by not sending hongbao during work.
