VietNamNet Bridge – After the failure of a recent reconciliation meeting between Vietnamese engineer Le Van Tach, who exposed technical faults in manufacturing leading to the recall of Toyota cars in Vietnam earlier this year, and Toyota Motor Vietnam, Tach said would sue the company for unfair labor treatment towards him and violating his correspondence privacy.

On September 8, the labor reconciliation council of Toyota Motor Vietnam (TMV) convened to discuss a labor dispute between the company and Tach who complained about being suspended and then transferred to an inferior job after he went public with TMV’s technical faults.

The council asked Tach to continue complying with the company’s disciplinary action and doing the job he has recently been assigned to. It also suggested the disciplinary period be shortened for Tach based on his work performance and compliance with the company’s labor regulations.

However, Tach rejected the council’s reconciliation plan and said he would take legal action against TMV for its retaliation against him after he blew the whistle on the company’s technical faults.

At a previous meeting on disciplinary action against Tach on August 24, TMV general director Akito Tachibana decided to shorten the 3-month suspension period and transfer Tach to another job with a lower salary for six months effective immediately.

Earlier on June 13, after Tach exposed Toyota’s technical faults to the mass media, the company decided to suspend Tach for three months during which he would receive 50 percent of his monthly salary.

The company said the suspension was not connected with the whistle blowing but was made due to Tach’s behavior that negatively affected the work and reputation of other employees.
After the reconciliation meeting failed to produce a mutual agreement, Tach said he would sue the company for its punitive action and violation of his e-mail privacy.

At the August 24 disciplinary council meeting, general director Akito Tachibana said after checking the company’s internal email system, MTV discovered Tach’s use of his company email address prtachlv@toyotavn.com.vn to send dozens of love letters to a woman.

Tach claimed that the MTV management had abused their power when accessing his own email account without his prior consent and the act violated his correspondence privacy.

However, MTV said that email address, which MTV had granted to Tach, is the company’s asset and it has the right of control over it.

On September 6, Tran Quoc Hung, head of the planning and products department of MTV, said to the press that MTV employees are not allowed to use their company e-mail accounts for personal purposes.

Under the company’s confidentiality policy, “the employer has the right to manage and use its internal email addresses,” Hung said.

However, lawyer Pham Van Phat, head of the An Phat Pham Law Office in Hanoi, which gives legal support to Tach, said the act violated citizens’ correspondence privacy rights that are protect by relevant laws. “The company’s regulation is not above the law.”

Lawyer Tran Dinh Trien, head of the Vi Dan (For The People) Law Office, said, “The email accounts set up for individuals are personal, not company, emails. Any access to personal emails must be done with the prior consent of the email owners.”

“Tach has told me that he would resign from TMV but before he leaves, he would take legal action against the company,” Dan Viet newswire quoted lawyer Phat as saying.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre