- A VinFast whistleblower alleges workers were locked inside factories overnight to meet deadlines.
- Allegations include workers being ordered to turn around en route to airports and return to work.
- Earlier allegations include rushed component development resulting in unsafe vehicles.
Imagine your employer locking you inside the workplace over the weekend to ensure you meet a deadline. Sounds pretty-far fetched, right? Well, according to a new report, that’s what Vietnamese automaker VinFast allegedly did to some of its employees. A whistleblower has come forward to shed light on these claims, as well as several other concerning workplace practices.
Last week, the same whistleblower, Hazar Denli, publicly stated that he lost his job after raising concerns online about safety issues at VinFast. Denli claims these safety concerns revolved around rushed component development, which he says, resulted in cars that aren’t meant to last and are so unsafe that he wouldn’t let his friends or family travel in one.
Read: Jaguar Land Rover Fires Whistleblower Over Reddit AMA On Vinfast Safety Flaws
In a new report published by The Times, Denli alleges that VinFast also locked employees in “overnight to force them to keep working.” A second individual, who also spoke to The Times, evidently corroborated Denli’s account. On top of that, the publication says that it’s seen an internal document where a Tata staff member admitted that lockdowns happened. VinFast hired Tata Technologies Limited (TTL), the UK arm of Tata Group, to do some of its product development, which explains the connection between the companies and how Denli ended up working on VinFast projects.
The document, a summary of a meeting between a corporate investigator and another member of Tata staff, reportedly states:
“There was one specific story he referenced [in his Reddit post] at some point during Covid issues they locked down the factory — anyone in the factory was locked in and slept there.
“There were only a few people subjected to that lockdown. We know the guys involved in that and know that Hazar was good mates with one of them. We know not firsthand experience but know who he was getting information from.”
That unnamed source also claims that “There’s lots of incidents where people were locked in the factory. There were also lots of instances where people were on their way to the airport and were told to turn around, not get on the flight and get back to the factory. That was the nature and the culture.”
The Fallout for Denli
After resigning from the company, Denli was hired by Jaguar Land Rover, which is also owned by the Tata Group. However, he was fired after posting his concerns on Reddit, when TTL contacted JLR’s HR director and demanded that he be sacked. As a result, Denli has launched employment proceedings for unfair dismissal.
While these allegations remain unproven in court, they raise serious questions that warrant further investigation. For now, both VinFast and Tata Group have reportedly declined to issue detailed public statements addressing the claims.
