Company posts disciplinary action against intern online, causing a stir

On November 29, social networks and the student community were "boiling" with a public post on Facebook about a media company in Ho Chi Minh City announcing disciplinary action against an intern.

Information from Van Lang University confirmed that the intern is a student of the school. The school received an email from the company about the intern's disciplinary decision, and the time of receiving the email coincided with the time the company posted the decision on social media.

The company revoked the internship confirmation stamp.

Accordingly, Vnnet Media and Advertising Company Limited posted on social networking platforms the content of the decision to discipline student V. (Van Lang University) - an intern at the company.

The violation mentioned in the decision is "having provocative words and inappropriate attitude towards superiors, violating the company's regulations on conduct and communication". The disciplinary measure is: "Not recognizing the internship process at the company and revoking the internship confirmation stamp".

The above decision of the company also requested Van Lang University to consider and take measures to remind student V.

The company then continued to post on Facebook a "notice of disciplinary action" to explain the above disciplinary decision.

Vnnet Company said that student V. started his internship at the company on September 8 and is expected to finish on December 8, according to the company's minimum 3-month internship requirement.

On November 23, V. came to the company and requested to have his internship confirmed ahead of schedule. In the spirit of supporting students, the company facilitated him to sign the confirmation and stamp the documents on the same day. V.'s internship score was recorded at 10/10, according to the student's self-assessment.

On the same afternoon, after completing the procedures, V. announced that due to his school schedule, he would stop his internship from November 24. However, this sudden leave was not announced in advance, causing the company to not have time to arrange replacement personnel to take over the work handover. Therefore, the company asked V. to continue to support him for a short time until suitable personnel were found.

On November 25, at around 9:30 p.m., V. continued to notify via text message that he was terminating his internship immediately because he "had completed the required time as required by the school." However, the company determined that such a leave was unfounded, because:

1. According to the school's announcement, the official internship period is from September 8 to November 30. V.'s decision to leave early is against the regulations.

2. The company has proposed to contact the school in writing to clarify the matter. However, V.'s attitude in the text messages was noted to be uncooperative, antagonistic, and had challenging statements and an inappropriate attitude towards superiors.

"Maybe V. thinks that being given a score of 10 and stamped before the deadline means that the company cannot handle the disciplinary action. Given the above developments, the company's Board of Directors met and issued a disciplinary decision…".

The entire incident took place and caused a stir on social networks on November 28 and 29, especially in student groups.

Interns are not employees of the company.

According to lawyer Nguyen Ngo Quang Nhat (Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association), in principle, student interns are not employees of the enterprise, do not create labor relations and are not subject to the regulation of the Labor Code.

Therefore, the company's issuance of a "disciplinary decision" in the form of a document applicable to official employees is not in accordance with the legal nature and has no basis in the relationship between the enterprise and the interns.

Second, the company's public disclosure of the names and alleged violations of student interns on social networks, without the students' consent, is an act that shows signs of violating personal rights protected by law, including:

Individual's right to image (Article 32 of the Civil Code); Right to protection of honor, dignity, and reputation (Article 34 of the Civil Code) and Right to private life, personal secrets, and family secrets (Article 38 of the Civil Code).

Interns have the right to request the company to remove, correct, apologize and claim compensation for damages if any.

Third, the company had previously confirmed the internship to the students ahead of schedule, but then presented contradictory information in documents and public announcements. This shows a lack of consistency in internal management and can lead to the misunderstanding that the company is deliberately "blaming" the students.

In their relationships with interns, businesses need to demonstrate transparency, honesty and consistency, avoiding harming the interests or reputation of students.

"The overall incident shows that the company handled the situation unprofessionally, especially in the context of information being widely publicized on social networks. The company should have worked privately with the school; re-evaluated the process of receiving - guiding - managing interns instead of using "disciplinary" methods and posting publicly as with employees.

This not only harms individual students but can also affect the reputation of the business itself," Mr. Nhat commented.

PURE DAN THUAN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cong-ty-dang-ky-luat-thuc-tap-sinh-len-mang-gay-xon-xao-20251129095532354.htm