(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-12 19:05

An electronics company in Shenzhen special economic zone began to punish employees deemed overly talkative this month by forcing them to wear gauze masks over their mouths for three days.

Plant workers feared complaining directly to their employer, but they contacted local media to report the questionable practice.

"I feel uncomfortable all over and could hardly breathe after I was forced to wear the gauze mask in the hot summer days," one worker said.

Legal experts told a local newspaper that the company had violated China's labor laws.

(Modern Express News)