A culture company in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is facing legal action after a video clip shows the company punishing employees by making them strip naked and spanking them. Screenshot from Sina Weibo 

A company that punished employees by making them strip naked and spanked them is facing legal action, and the wrath of netizens after a video posted online went viral. 

The eight employees seen in the video volunteered to receive the punishment, said the company in a statement that failed to win them any support. 

"If we failed to meet the company's standard, we would be spanked with a stick, and forced to take our cloths off and eat bitter melon dipped in mustard sauce," a former employee of the company in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region told media. 

"I left without even handling in my resignation," the former employee, surnamed Xiao, adding he had been poked with a stick. 

A senior leader of the company, surnamed Huang, told the media that those who received punishment had poor work performance. "We didn't kidnap them, I have received such punishment as well, and it didn't hurt," Huang said.

A lawyer told local media that corporal punishment is a violation of employees' safety and dignity and contravenes the labor law.

Global Times