The man had worked at BYD since 2009 and was in a logistics position earning roughly RMB 6,000 ($940) - 7,000 per month before his death.

(Image credit: thepaper.cn)

The sudden death of a 36-year-old male employee has put BYD into the spotlight. The company has now reached a compensation agreement with the man's family.

The man, surnamed Wang, was found dead in the rented house on November 5, local media thepaper.cn reported Wednesday, and the police issued an investigation report showing that a criminal case has been ruled out.

Wang's family said they believe Wang's unexpected death was linked to the fact that he had worked continuously overtime and intensely before he died. But the exact cause of Wang's death is still unclear because no autopsy has been done, the report said.

Wang's work records show that he worked around 12 hours on 26 days in October. The labor law stipulates that workers should not work more than 8 hours a day. If a worker needs to work longer hours for special reasons, the daily working hours shall not exceed 11 hours, and the maximum number of working hours can be 11 hours per day for 12 days per month.

Wang had been working at BYD since 2009 and was in a logistics position before his death. The work was relatively intense, with a monthly salary of roughly RMB 6,000 ($940) - 7,000. He worked a month of day shifts followed by a month of night shifts, according to the report.

Wang's date of death was the evening of November 4. The family believes that although no autopsy has been conducted to identify the specific cause of death, his passing should be linked to his long night shift work. BYD, on the other hand, argued that the man's death in a rented house was not a work-related injury.

According to the report, BYD initially said it was willing to pay certain compensation for humanitarian reasons, but was slow to reach an agreement with the man's family.

In a follow-up report on Thursday, thepaper.cn said BYD and Wang's family had reached an agreement on November 17, agreeing to pay RMB 200,000 in compensation.