A former general manager of a U.S.-funded company in Shenzhen has sued the firm for firing him without notice, demanding 37 million yuan (US$4.79 million) in compensation, the South Metropolitan News reported yesterday.

The man, identified only as a Chinese-American surnamed Huang, on Sunday told the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court that Andrew Shenzhen Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Andrew Corp. based in Westchester, Illinois, sacked him in November 2005 without a notice, violating the contract.

Huang was appointed general manager in July 2004 with an annual salary of US$362,600. The lawsuit went to trial Sunday.

"I had worked for Andrew Shenzhen's parent company Andrew Corp. since 1998," Huang told the court.

He was appointed general manager of Andrew Shenzhen in May 2004 by Andrew Corp.'s Mauritius subsidiary.

"The board of directors (of Andrew Shenzhen) decided to fire me without any notice on Nov. 8, 2005," he said, adding the Shenzhen firm violated the contract.

However, Andrew Shenzhen, a telecommunications device manufacturer in Nanshan, said no such contract existed.

"Huang signed an outsourcing employment contract with an international service company under the U.S. Andrew Corp., and he was thus an employee of that company rather than us," a representative of the manufacturer claimed.

It gave further evidence that Huang's salary and other benefits had been provided by the international service company since 2004, and claimed that Andrew Shenzhen should not be held responsible for any compensation.

The company said the international service company sent a written notice to Huang on Nov. 9, 2005, saying his employment contract was terminated because he had "seriously disrupted the operations of the Shenzhen factory and allowed staff members to attack the visiting human resources director" of the service company.

However, Huang told the court he had been diligent when acting as the Shenzhen company's general manager and contributed a lot to its rapid growth.

The court did not say when the verdict will be announced.

Legal experts said employment disputes are common, but cases involving millions of yuan in compensation are still rare in the country.

Editor: Yan