Foxconn pays family $44,000 for employee suicide

When it was reported than an employee at Foxconn committed suicide after being accused of losing an iPhone prototype China's labor laws came under scrutiny again. After first denying that it had interrogated the employee using techniques that many would consider criminal it has surfaced that the company paid $44,000 to the family for the death of their family member according to the New York Times.

Company officials have said that "Several times he had some products missing, then he got them back" but would not go on to say what all the employee may have allegedly lost or misplaced in his past. What is clear is that this was not the first time that the employee had reported misplacing a prototype but the truth will always remain obscured.

"Soon after, a security guard, who was joined by two men wearing Foxconn shirts, threatened to ‘beat up' a journalist's translator if she persisted in asking the family questions. Foxconn officials later said the guard was not on their staff and might have been with the police bureau."

While the company claims that the guard was not an employee it's likely that the money paid to the family was "hush money" or money paid to keep the family quiet and to not further pursue reasoning behind his death.