Mass resignation (including boss), boss's boss asks for handover of work, boss asks not to. What to do?

Question

I am in a really awkward situation. I work in a small subsidiary company whose parent company is overseas. The parent company is in Singapore and owns our company here in Vietnam.

We are completely dependent on the parent company to send over funds for operation. For the last several months, the payroll has been delayed due to messy changes in our local management staff. We only have six employees, including the director and all decided to quit. Now that conflict does not seem to be solvable.

I think I am the lone guy who wants to at least complete my responsibility and help with the transition process. The overseas boss, who I am on good terms with, asks me to hand over the work of the whole team here (I work on and have access to most of the projects), because he said the local director threatens and holds ransom. On the other hand, the local director asks me not to do so, so that the parent company has to process payroll before we hand over any work. I want to be responsible, but also I don't want all my colleagues not being paid for, now that they can only depend on that "ransom" to be paid.

And to be clear, the parent company still has not sent funds for the last month, so we are not paid for our last month effort yet by the subsidiary company. We do not have proper funds to continue operations here. Even the office rental is due. We couldn't even shut down the company without agreement from the parent company.

We are only a small team and have no one for processes like HR, union, etc. Everyone resigned, but our director here doesn't want to hand over the work, more specifically software source code, to the parent company unless they process the payroll for our last month.

What should I do now? I know I could just hand over my own stuff, but most of my work have efforts of others, too. So I'm not sure what to do about that. And if I side with the local director and hold the work until payroll is processed, would that be counted as ransom or collusion if a lawsuit is to be involved?

I just feel really frustrated sitting between the two parties and would appreciate any advice on this situation.

FWIW, I also handed in my resignation, but I want to complete the transition process so it wouldn't cause much damage to the parent company.

Answer 1

You have not been paid for services provided. You are under no obligation to continue to provide services with no expectation of payment. You can still do as you wish, but if I'm not getting paid, I'm not even showing up.

Answer 2

While it is noble for you to want to meet what you feel are your obligations, the company has not paid you for what they are asking you to do. You only have an obligation to provide the service they paid for. Given how shady they are, I wouldn't give them any help at this point.

Also, while I am not a HUGE fan of unions, this is a legitimate job action by your coworkers. If you do the handover, you are undermining your associates for a company that is giving you nothing in return.

Do not turn over anything you don't have to, support your coworkers.

Edited to add: NOTE: This also means do not do anything malicious. Do not destroy/hide/damage or obstruct. Either. Do not help, but do not destroy.

Answer 3

As I read it the situation is:

Your boss is trying to bargain for you all to get the pay you're owed - your boss' boss is trying to undermine that bargaining position by getting the work off you without paying.

If you hand anything over then you're limiting the chances you, and your collegues, get paid for the work you've already done.

To limit your own responsibility I recommend collating all the work together and giving it to your boss. You've handed the work up the chain of command and the sticking point between higher ups isn't your problem.

Answer 4

It's very simple. Stop communicating directly with your boss's boss. You shouldn't be doing that anyway.

Answer 5

I agree with the other answers that say you should not hand anything over, and there is a very specific reason for this.

You do not actually work for the overseas parent company.

You work for the local company. Your contract is with them, and they tell you what to do. Your "overseas boss", if he works for the parent company, only gets to tell your company what to do - not you specifically. If the company you really work for (meaning your boss) decides not to do it, that is their prerogative, and you should not go against it.

And unless you are a lawyer with a deep understanding of the contractual relationships between the companies you don't actually know who owns these documents.

Note that this is very specific to this situation. If your boss's boss worked for the same company as you it would be very different. Also if you hadn't quit you might act differently.

You owe the parent company, and your overseas boss, nothing. Ignore their messages. If you disobey your boss and hand them over you are disclosing your company's confidential information without permission. That could get you terminated for disobedience, and theoretically prosecuted. (Not going to happen in this situation of course).

At the point where you literally become the last (or most senior) person working for your company - where everyone else has finished their notice and actually left - then you may have to make a different decision. But while your boss is still there, don't go against his orders.

This is all over and above the issue that you haven't been paid, which would certainly in my mind relieve you of any moral guilt about not handing over documents.

As for future employability, tell future employers that you resigned because you weren't paid. Give your boss as a reference. It's going to be much better for you to keep on the right side of someone who works in your country than someone who works in a different country.

Answer 6

IANAL but I think that if your boss's boss would be in the right he would be able to force your boss to do the handover or be able to replace him with someone more obedient. Trying to bypass your boss by going directly to you seems a rather sly move to me.

So I think legally it's far safer for you to obey your direct boss and not go against a direct order of him, unless someone with legal expertise in this area tells you otherwise. Apart from that I think it's better/safer to piss off one person in another country than 6 people you see in person for at least 8 hours a day.

Answer 7

Additionally, consider future employability

Something that has not been touched upon: You want to get hired again, presumably in your current industry and your current area. You are much more likely to meet your direct boss again (in a position where they can influence your getting hired too) than your boss's boss. Even if you should end up applying to a company that is subsidiary to the exact same overseas company you're dealing with now, the hiring at your level will be done locally. The person hiring you might be friends with your current boss. Sure, your boss's boss might interfere, but there's a chance they won't bother.

So either way, you're boss's boss will be less likely to hinder your hiring if you go against them than your direct boss will be, if you go against them.

Answer 8

This is in the realm of "check with a lawyer" - as by agreeing to work for a company, and then being paid by them (until recently) - you were doing work for hire. You may also have signed other sorts of intellectual property stuff that has other implications, depending on the company. IP law varies significantly between countries, and even more so where you are in one country and your bosses in another. Getting caught up in this stuff can be a real mess.

So, I think you know the murky ethical tradeoff:

• If you hand over materials and facilitate transition, you undercut what your boss and the other employees are trying to do - they are trying to get the parent company to pay them as promised by making it difficult and expensive for them to carry on the work w/out them. If you then make the transition easy, you risk screwing both yourself and your peers/boss out of the potential last few weeks of wages. Getting money back after you quit is difficult and unlikely. On the good side - you leave with more grace, better contacts in the parent company, and a better reputation.

• If you side with the local folks near you - you risk the displeasure of the company, and if the group is even denying access to materials they worked on for the parent company - you could be at risk of prosecution (this is the lawyer part). You do, however, end up with a better reputation and more contacts within the local group, who may be your better and more useful network (unless you plan to move to Signapore).

My approach (if I wanted to be nice..) would be:

• spend the rest of the day writing up a QUICK guide to the stuff you are leaving behind - like a 1 pager for where to find the work in progress, the to-do list, any work related artifacts - the very basics of what they are entitled to have. Leave it on the work server or your company equipment w/out transporting any of the data anywhere. You are leaving it on premise for the parent company to pick up at it's convenience. That way you are not crossing the line between the local group and the parent company, but you are not denying anything the company has the right to, and you are least spending a few hours trying to be decent.
• pack up your personal belongings and head out at the end of the day and don't come back unless the pay agreements change. Make sure that any company equipment that was at your home is returned to the office before you hand in any access stuff like badges or keys.

IMO - if the parent company actually valued your work, it would not come to the point where the entire office is quitting because of lack of pay. Once a payment system is set up, it's just not that hard to keep it running. The fact that this is has hit this level of crisis makes me think that the parent company really doesn't value the work that much.

If you feel really bad - at least in the US - it would also be OK to say to the second level boss - "I've left a guide to my work on my computer at my desk, I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable doing more without getting paid for it". If he presses, because he's the big boss and you should obey him, it's OK to point out that his authority ends when the paycheck ends.

Answer 9

"the payroll has been delayed..."

" .. we are not paid for our last month .."

The day that your pay is delayed, at any company, walk away.

End of story.

It may be you lose being paid for the last week or two, but, you must cut your losses.

Never, ever, EVER stay at a company where pay is late by even one day.

Walk away that day.

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What to do now, per the question title "What to do?"

Walk away.

Answer 10

You seem to have two issues here: The ethical issue of "I'm an employee I should do my job", and the legal one of "what am I liable for in the case that I don't provide the materials and hold them 'for ransom'?"

For the latter, see a lawyer if you are that concerned about it. I don't know Vietnamese law and probably neither does anyone else here. If I had to guess, I would say that if your manager and all your teammates think it's ok, then probably it's ok. But that's a complete guess, do not take it as legal advice. This may be easier to answer if you read your contract. You haven't been paid your salary in some amount of time, does that constitute a breach of contract? It probably does. What does the contract say about breaches of contract? What can you retaliate with if the contract is breached? Does withholding of work count? You may also be able to find these resources online, or by contacting your local labour board (or whatever such thing you have in Vietnam).

As for the former, here's my opinion: As an employee, you have no loyalty to your company, except inasmuch as they have loyalty to you. If your company is doing their responsibility towards you, then you have an ethical responsibility (and legal one) to repay in kind. That's where the relationship ends, however; as soon as the company is not doing their responsibility towards you, you have no ethical or moral requirement to continue doing your responsibility to them. If that costs the company money, or causes them problems, or whatever, it's not your problem. Management of the company is there to make sure the company continues in whatever situation happens, it's their job to pick up the mess if you don't do your job; usually this starts with removing the cause of the situation, which usually means firing the employee in question, but as above, that's not applicable to this case right now. But the rest is management's problem, not yours. Don't make it your problem, you're not paid enough (or at all).

Answer 11

Consider which person would be more useful in your professional network in the future.

I'd suspect Localboss is going to be a better person to keep in contact with than Remoteboss who is in another country.

I would do exactly what Localboss tells you to, and keep in touch with all your good current coworkers. If the Remoteboss gets annoyed, what can they do - fire you?

Answer 12

Do what your new boss has asked you to do. Also, ask for a formalization of your promotion.

Your previous boss has resigned, and no longer has any power over you, and you owe them no consideration beyond those considerations you're legally obligated to provide to them. You're now the sole employee of this branch, and the manager of the manager of this branch has asked for you to send them the results of your branch's work to them. As a result, I would suggest that you comply with their request, since they're your new boss. Additionally, since as the only surviving employee of your branch, you're the de facto manager there, I would recommend that you ask your new boss to formally recognize this fact and give you a promotion into your old boss's job.

Upon receiving this formal confirmation of your promotion, I would recommend that you ask that they send your branch enough money to make payroll, in order to avoid the company a costly lawsuit by your branch's previous employees. While the main branch of the company might be hurting for money, a lawsuit over unpaid wages would surely cost the company even more money, both from the lawsuit and the loss of consumer confidence in the company's stability that such a lawsuit would cause.

Even if the company continues its non-payment of your wages, you could still leverage your promotion into a managerial position to find a higher-paid job next time, so it's still a win for you. Even as far as reputation, I doubt your former coworkers would hold it against you much if you can honestly tell them that you used your new position to advocate for the company to pay them their unpaid wages.

Answer 13

What should I do now?

You should contact your HR department and let them handle this. None of this is your fault or your responsibility.